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ANGEL CITY OUTCASTS
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fantastically named bunch of street-beat degenerates and boisterous beery
reprobates mix up, and occasionally fuck up, country tinged ska-punk-billy
and hard rockin' dirty alleyway boogie. As they say in their cheerleading
anthem 'I'm an ACO' - ' listen to hip hop, reggae and ska, country
Rock'n'Roll' - and this combines it all like a truckers drag race between
9 Pound Hammer, The Crosstops and GoldBlade with the
Outcasts skanking on top in a ska party atmosphere; there's
widdlesome guitars aplenty that'd make Slash squeal and choruses they
could lease out to the marines for drill instruction as they all hit like
a rallying call for a rampant orgy of good-natured violence and
buffoonery. But there's sense and restraint to the youthful hedonism (the
manically melodic 'Keep On'). While there's a definite gleam of LA
street sleaze in here, the glorious violent chaos of songs like 'The
Chase' recalls a very pissed off early Stiff Little Fingers and
would scare the hair extensions off most late 80's poseurs. 'Popeye In
Afghanistan' is a party shout-along-thon supping the dark stuff with
Dropkick Murphys and hits me as being too playful will undoubtedly
be a live favourite. This along with the nice idea of shifting Detroit to
'LA Rock City' sit like an off pint of Stella Artois, which being
sped up causes some of the emphasis of the original to be lost, which if I
were a social scientist sort then ya could say it is a good symbol for the
LA myth.________________________________________________________ |
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-Stu Gibson |