Dave Chamberlain

A band so belligerently confident that it can start a record with a track called "Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues." McLusky, a crew of three over-the-top Welshmen, made a jarringly good, disjointed rock record last year, "McLusky Do Dallas" (Too Pure), which somehow integrated the calculated script of indie rock and punk rock's bottle-to-the-mouth exuberance. Whether the band takes an intentionally dissonant direction, like on the uncomfortable bumblebee guitar leads on "No New Wave No Fun" or "What We've Learned," or lays down an earthquake of rumble ("Day of the Deadringers," "The World Loves Us and Is Our Bitch"), it feels as if the band is somehow making fun of its fans. With the same smarmy aplomb used by Public Image Limited in the eighties, McLusky spits and snarls all the way through "Dallas," dropping nuclear-bomb lyrics like "fuck this band/and their demon seed/cuz if they burst out/you're responsible." If the music wasn't smart, McLusky couldn't get away with this; but these guys can turn a hateful hook on a dime, successfully go from soft to jagged in the same song and make you love them in a matter of three songs. This is new millennium rock, and if you don't get it, McLusky will ram it down your throat and choke you with it.

McLusky plays April 15 at Schubas, 3159 North Southport, (773)525-2508.

(2003-04-09)

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