{"id":27640,"date":"2024-06-11T05:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-11T09:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=27640"},"modified":"2024-06-10T09:25:52","modified_gmt":"2024-06-10T13:25:52","slug":"album-review-the-brat-straight-outta-east-l-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/11\/album-review-the-brat-straight-outta-east-l-a\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: The Brat \u2013 Straight Outta East L.A."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Time has an odd way of changing our perception. Most anyone who heard Sex Pistols in the 1978 would have found them abrasive, chaotic and noisy. As Never Mind the Bollocks<\/i> approaches its 50th<\/sup> anniversary, today the album sounds \u2013 if not conventional \u2013 more of a piece with the overall development of popular music. That\u2019s not to diminish its importance, but rather to reflect upon how it changed things, in the process becoming more mainstream-sounding.<\/p>\n

That effect can be witnessed when considering the work of any number of artists. Even if they didn\u2019t exert the same sort of influence upon the direction of music, what was once wild and edgy can sound quite accessible. So it is with The Brat, a Los Angeles band of the early \u201880s that seemed poised for bigger things. Their music has been described as pop punk, pop thrash, new wave\u2026 you get the idea. But listening now, this East L.A. band of Chicano and Chicana musicians simply sounds like a very good band, one of the \u201cwhy weren\u2019t they huge?\u201d variety.<\/p>\n

Fronted by sharp and spirited vocalist Teresa Covarrubias, The Brat made bracing, supremely tuneful music. Listening now, one can hear hints of Pat Benatar, Scandal, maybe a bit of The Bangles and other flavors in their songs. The band had talent to burn, and churned out original songs that showcased their versatility. While \u201cSlaughter of an Ancient Tribe\u201d and \u201cVicious Love\u201d have a chiming, radio-ready quality, tunes like \u201cSwift Moves\u201d show that The Brat could easily work reggae textures into high-energy pop tunes.<\/p>\n

Dig into the lyrics of The Brat\u2019s songs and you\u2019ll find an articulate worldview, one that concerns itself with the oppression of Mexican Americans, well-honed social conscience and a generally nuanced approach to whatever subjects the group chose to tackle. But it\u2019s all wedded to a sophisticated and straightforward musical character; the songs blast by, rarely clocking in at much over three minutes (often much less. Get in, make your musical and\/or lyrical point, get out, move on: that seems to have been The Brat\u2019s approach to music.<\/p>\n

Listen to the 21 tracks on Straight Outta East L.A.<\/i> and marvel that the group didn\u2019t manage to land a major label deal. Several songs on this collection originally appeared on the band\u2019s sole release during their time together (1980\u2019s Attitudes<\/i>). More come from a never-released album recorded \u201cunder the auspices\u201d (whatever that means) of industry giant Paul Rothchild (The Doors etc.). The leftover tracks not from that EP or the unreleased album mare every bit as strong; \u201cCorner of the World\u201d sports a soaring Covarrubias lead vocal and a sweeping instrumental arrangement. This outfit doesn\u2019t seem to have recorded any<\/i> weak tracks, and there\u2019s nothing here that sounds the least bit tentative or unfinished.<\/p>\n

Most every song sounds like a hit. Maybe a local<\/i> hit, maybe a regional one, but a hit nonetheless. The Bray play with passion, conviction and musical smarts. Covarrubias\u2019 voice slices through the speakers, the band is astoundingly tight, and the songs seem designed for maximum impact.<\/p>\n

Pick any song at random and be wowed by the fully-formed character of The Brat. If you land on \u201cThe Wolf,\u201d you\u2019ll be treated to strong melody, exuberant shouted choruses, fiery guitar work and band that clearly means it, man<\/i>. At just over a minute, the thrashy punk of \u201cHigh School\u201d still displays strong pop values. And when they shift gears for some jangle-pop like \u201cThe Promise,\u201d The Brat demonstrate their authentic versatility. Straight Outta East L.A.<\/i> might well be the best early \u201880s record you\u2019ve never heard. Correct that oversight. (Bonus points \u2013 though they\u2019re not needed \u2013 for the lovely swirl-color translucent vinyl.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Time has an odd way of changing our perception. Most anyone who heard Sex Pistols in the 1978 would have found them abrasive, chaotic and noisy. As Never Mind the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27641,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,49,50,51,59,62,65,73],"tags":[5437],"class_list":["post-27640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-compilation","category-new-release","category-new-wave","category-pop","category-punk","category-rawk","category-review","category-vinyl","tag-the-brat","cat-19-id","cat-49-id","cat-50-id","cat-51-id","cat-59-id","cat-62-id","cat-65-id","cat-73-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27640"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27643,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27640\/revisions\/27643"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}