Consumer Guide Album

Brakes: The Beatific Visions [Rough Trade, 2007]
A hopeful sign, or at least a piece of luck. Finding the Bowie-esque British Sea Power and Doors-esque Electric Soft Parade wanting as life projects, Eamon Hamilton and the brothers Tom and Alex White have made their postpunk goof their main gig. Nine of the 11 songs are fast, and nine of the 11 songs are good--it's as simple as that for once and suggests that some proggy post-er boys (I mean that in so many ways) are capable of returning to their 1977 roots. Not only that, a sweet young thing at the BBC has such a short memory or limited knowledge base that he called their country-flavored punk "original-sounding." A-