The Dragons
"Pain Killer" CD (Scam-O-Rama)
This album is the antithesis to everything Lou Barlow stands for. It's the antidote, the ol' fashioned cure for what-the-fuck-ever ails you. Enough self-indulgent snivelcore and th' hell with it. It's time to rock. Nothin' fancy here - warmed over Johnny Thunders riffs and a dose of drag rock - but the Dragons pull it off with such nonchalance, such effortlessness, that it transcends apparent limitations of the style and becomes its apotheosis, surpassing its predecessors (yeah, I know, sacrilege, but fucked if I care. I'll make my peace with Johnny when I see him) and yet still building on the foundation. It's historically informed but stands out of time and place, just like the best rock should.