Belle Isle Is on Fire

Sporting more or less the same lineup as the Starlite Desperation, but here delving farther into garage and proto-punk, Lost Kids make an impressive first splash with Bell Isle Is on Fire. Although the band captured on these recording sessions is a conglomeration of members of the Go, Dirtbombs, and Jack Oblivion Band, the final Lost Kids lineup having not fully solidified by the time of the recording sessions, there is little denying the strength of their unified riff-rock attack. Leading an assault that falls somewhere between the ballsy strut of the Rolling Stones and the visceral crunch of the Stooges, vocalist Dante White's disaffected howl wanders through arm-wrestling guitar lines, adding to the messy, unpolished ambience of their coolly uncompromising approach. Four solid songs with four solid garage riffs -- nothing more, nothing less.