Los Brigands - Nothing's Clean
Crowd Control Media
Los Brigands, some of you might be familiar with them already if you picked up the Spanish reboot of Hellcat Records’ “Give ‘Em The Boot” series in cooperation with Smelvis Records, “Dale La Bota”. But I forgive you if you don’t remember them, as most bands drowned in the extensive 26-track tracklist of this compilation. Now these Californian punk rockers are on their own though as Crowd Control Media recently announced the release of the band’s debut album “Nothing’s Clean”.
The opening track, “The Hater’s Circle”, is kind of a surprise once you heard the full album one time around. The rev’d up, neo-rockabilly / psychobilly stomper kind of catches you off guard when you’re expecting an album full of punk and ska-influenced tunes. But despite that the rock ‘n’ roll influences continuously flow through “Nothing’s Clean” (as for example the track “Robbie” is a revised version of Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode”), this is definitely a punk rock record with a healthy dose of ska influences that brings a different kind of tune to Crowd Control Media’s growing catalog.
With influences drawn from bands like Rancid, Time Again and Left Alone, Los Brigands got a real West Coast feel to their sound that is topped off by the re-recorded version of the track “Algun Dia”. Also songs like “Broke” and “Downtown Nights”, that were uploaded on YouTube several years ago and you might have seen before, have been re-recorded for “Nothing’s Clean” and sound stronger than ever before. All in all the mix of various influences and the fast pace of the 16 songs that barely clock 34 minutes total make this a fun and easy to listen to debut album that is over before you know it.
If you like any of the earlier mentioned bands, though elitist Rancid fans might get a bit cocky, or you enjoyed Topnovil’s latest album “Blast The Stereo”, you’ll most likely enjoy Los Brigands debut album “Nothing’s Clean” as well. Solid debut, although I prefer a few more tracks in Spanish on future releases. Thank you.
