The Starlite Desperation plays stripped down, blood and guts rock music without any cheesy effects or pretense. The music shows its aggression through jagged riffs, wailing vocals, and thundering percussion. Clearly, The Cramps and The Stooges inspired this band to pick up its instruments, but elements of new wave and sixties garage punk also seep into the mix. This band is American to the bone. “The Gold Rush” has a country-tinged edge to its punkish swagger. The production is exceptionally clean- strange for a dirty rock and roll band, but that doesn’t take away from any of its bluster.

Bristling with charged up guitars, classic chord changes, and over the top vocals, “Notes From The Drag” encompasses everything this band is about. “Mona Lisa Snake” masks lyrical absurdity with stone-faced punk harangue. Dante Adrian’s reverb-drenched vocals attack each song with rowdiness and desperation, like a young Elvis keeping pace with the singer from Clawhammer. This band sounds like it would kill live, but the confines of the studio seem to hold the music back just a bit. Few bands play pure rock and roll these days; Royal Trux and The Make Up are The Starlite Desperation’s closest peers, but even they veer off into more experimental realms.

Go Kill Mice is solid from start to finish. Each song crunches its way into the next with primal energy and gritty execution, leading up to the full-throttled explosion of the title track (“and if I ever get out of jail/I will look for her so I can scratch her tail”). There’s an element of silliness throughout the record, but it’s all in the name of rock and roll. Any band with a drummer named Jef Lepard has to rock. Go Kill Mice is The Starlite Desperation’s second album, but the band has a slew of singles under its belt on GSL records. Rock and roll is supposed to sound dangerous and this band makes it sleazy again.