Born Liars “Ragged Island” LP
Born Liars “Go Back One Day” EP
If you follow the string of Kinks-influenced garage rock n’ roll (pretty prominent in the likes of “Don’t Tell Me, I Know” and “Spare Change”), annexing more American bar-rock tinges and better chops at purveying these high-octane sounds through the ages, at the beginning of said string’ll be Houston’s Born Liars, uncontested. A bit too refined, by-the-numbers sounding punk rock to me, but it sounds like that’s what they’re going for… not opting for a less conventional strand breathing life into the scene with idiosyncratic extremities. Like clockwork though, when it’s done well it definitely hits the spot (“How It Gets At Night”). Sounds to some degree like Dead Moon. Polishing up and forwarding along the more traditional, less marginal aspects is a necessary evil in this business I guess. (BG)
(Cutthroat Records // myspace.com/cutthroatrecs)