Dirty Things work to embody rock and roll by observing the holy trinity of women, cocaine and booze (lyrically, at least) and eschewing the concept of sleeves. This may be in hopes that dedication to the sweat and stank of the lifestyle will bring about music worthy of the title. They’re getting there, as their compositions grow on me a little more with each listen, despite the handicap of resembling the punks who used to smoke weed under my fire escape back in Chicago. “Poor” has some good swampy riffs to it, and “Mojo Hand” is formidable, though the stick tapping intro is lifted straight from “LaGrange.” However, “Monsters and Shadows” strikes a perfect balance between a hair metal ballad and gentle acoustic number, and executed well enough to show some real chops beneath the greasy bandanas. They probably kill it live, and the next opportunity to see the trio is this Tuesday at the Basement, and then 11/18 at Winner’s Bar and Grill for their album release show. –Terra James-Jura
