Tom Lynch

Thurston Moore's baby has gotten all the unavoidable Yeah Yeah Yeahs comparisons, but the band's self-titled debut is much more than that, an explosive monster of a record that never, at any point, disappoints, combining elements of punk, riot grrl and straight-up rock `n' fucking roll. These Nashville teens can play, and leader Jemina Pearl's charm is endlessly mesmerizing. The fifteen songs spill into each other with a destructive rant's determination, all power and pissed-off adrenaline. The four-piece doesn't write any songs much longer than two-minutes, and they don't have to--the urgency and energy and stuttering vigor grabs you after mere seconds. Songs like "Adventure" and "Bunk Trunk Skunk" are memorable for their melodic streaming of anger and force, the former hypnotizing in its slaughterhouse vocal flow. They even get cheeky by naming a song "Stairway to Heaven," and another "Fill My Pill." The record never lets up. Be Your Own Pet has written a pitch-perfect rock record, lovable and purely vicious.

Be Your Own Pet plays September 22 at Logan Square Auditorium, 2539 North Kedzie, (773)509-5019, at 8:30pm. $12-$14.

(2006-09-19)

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