Walker Brigade

If Only

Big Stir Records

On this wonderful album from this LA postpunk band, the first four songs set the tone musically: rocking, melodic, heavy, with an awful lot of great noise, feedback, and generally cool sonics.

After that, it’s off and rolling, hitting peaks with “What Is Wrong With Me” and “Sand In My Joints,” with lyrics about difficult situations, told forcefully and fiercely.

There are bonus tracks, too, including alternate mixes of songs like “No,” which was on the first ballot for the Grammys, and some great covers, like a full-throated version of the Soft Boys' “I Wanna Destroy You” and Robyn Hitchcock’s “Rock and Roll Toilet.”

It's one of the best albums of the year, and a reminder that this is what postpunk and punk really are like. This kind of music really isn’t made anymore, and it should be, as it’s a lot more alive than today’s indie rock, and a lot more rocking, too.

Andrea Weiss