The Lower Class Brats - New Seditionaries (CD)

All Music Guide

Okay, the Lower Class Brats aren't even trying to be original anymore. Always the most derivative of modernday punk bands, with few ideas not directly stolen from the first and second waves of British punk, as well as Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange (both in terms of look and lyrics), this Austinbased group are now officially presenting themselves as the Rutles to the Sex Pistols' Beatles. Taking its name from Seditionaries, the protopunk boutique that Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood ran in the mid'70s and its graphic design from Jamie Reid's safety pin and ransom note aesthetic on the Sex Pistols' original records, The New Seditionaries could not be a more obvious stylistic ripoff. The problem is that the Lower Class Brats are more musically capable and stylistically suited to rip off thirdstring punks like the Cockney Rejects and their ramalama ilk: these 13 songs are nothing but uninspired hardcore with dopily selfreferential cheerleading like "This one goes out for the p...unks/We rule the fuckin' world" in place of the genuine lyrical provocation of Johnny Rotten and crew. After over a decade, this band's schtick has finally gone beyond boring into slightly pathetic. - Stewart Mason, All Music Guide Read more Less