What began as an informal live entity in 2012 has finally grown into something more substantial for Portland-based Filthy Friends. Led by Sleater-Kinney’s Corin Tucker and ex-R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck, the ensemble – which also includes King Crimson drummer Bill Rieflin, guitarist Kurt Bloch and the Young Fresh Fellows/Minus 5 stalwart Scott McCaughey on bass – have made good on the promise of last year’s fiery antiTrump rant Despierta. That song is included here, alongside a batch of truculent tunes that sometimes feel like Patti Smith locking horns with The Replacements. Or, in the case of the terse staccato riffs of Windmill, Television.
Predictably, there are strong shades of Buck’s old band too, not least amid the arpeggios of Any Kind Of Crowd (an R.E.M. track in all but Stipe). Elsewhere the greasy chug of Come Back Shelley carries fuzz-filled echoes of T.Rex in their prime.
