The Briefs

The Briefs return to late-'70s-era dirt punk, creating a ruckus made of hit-and-run guitars and songs about pubic lice and the cost of getting laid. Skinny ties and bleached hair aside, the Seattle band is brazen enough to have put out an EP of cover songs about spree killing, including bloody blasters from real old-school punks the Angry Samoans and the Damned. A smash in Europe, the band released a cocksure debut, Hit After Hit, that led to a brief signing with Interscope. Having promptly moved on to BYO Records, they'll soon release Sex Objects, which races at warp speed through drinking, brawling songs à la Sham 69, with all the confrontational swagger of the New York Dolls. The Briefs take a '70s trend and mix it with the active ingredients of the '90s punk revival. The power chords and hooks are cooked up like crack and every bit as addictive.