CRITIC'S CHOICE

Bracket, with SNFU and the Joykiller, Friday, September 8, at the Glenn Miller Ballroom, contradicts the pundits. The band is proof positive that at least some of today's corporate punk-rock acts are actually better than their forefathers of a decade or two ago. On 4-Wheel Vibe, the band's second release for New York's Caroline label, the Bracket boys churn out meaty, pop-punk ditties like "Circus Act" and "Trailer Park" with all the sonorous, irreverent mirth of the Ramones in their prime. Yet unlike the now-aging Joey, Bracket vocalist Marty actually knows how to sing--a quality that was sorely missing from the music made by the late-Seventies dog-collar-and-mohawk crowd. In my book, that counts for something. After all, I haven't dug an Exploited record from my closet in years, but Vibe seems to be finding its way to my turntable with alarming frequency.