The Briefs - Platinum Rats

We first caught the Briefs when their first album cam out - shit, has it been about 20 years, now?! - and were blown away by their super catchy 70's punk rock'n'roll and by their fun, throw-back 70's punk rock looks. With great vocals, catchy hooks, cool choruses and simply effective guitar lines, they were an update on the original punk rock that we always loved - with style and hip tunes!

After a hiatus of a number of years in which the guys worked on various projects, they are back and sound as good as ever! This record has superb production, the guitars are punchy and rockin' (once again, I'm kinda reminded of the Vibrators sound when Chris Spedding was working with them) and the rhythm section smokes, while the vocals are catchy as hell with plenty of nicely done harmonies.

The songs blast from one to another without so much as a breath intake in between, just like rock'n'roll shows should be! We got the vinyl version with side one giving us "Bad Vibrations", "Shopping Spree", "Nazi Disco", "She's the Rat", "GMO Mosquito" (my fave so far, excellently constructed with more hooks than a tackle box) and the very Vibrators-esque "Underground Dopes". For Side Two we are treated to "I Hate the World" (who can't relate these days?), "The Thought Police Are on the Bus" (super poppy), "Dumb City", "Out of Touch", "Kids Laugh At You" (hip breakdown, reminding me a bit of the Damned)  and "Terrible Vibes" (a clever bookend to the opening "Bad Vibrations"!).

The Briefs are what punk rock should sound like! Get it!