*** Alien Crime Syndicate

DUST TO DIRT

(Collective Fruit)

A partnership between former Lemons drummer Nabil Ayers and former Meices singer and guitarist Joe Reineke (who ably handles the production side, too), Alien Crime Syndicate sound like a direct musical descendant of both bands. And as they were two of the '90s' better punk-pop guitar nights out, that's a promising combination. Less punk and more pop than the Lemons or the Meices, the band's debut release, Dust to Dirt, combines straightforward guitar assaults, persistent rhythms, and vocals that sneer and snarl, cavort and cajole. There's plenty of fun and attitude here, and enough imagination to make hook-laden anthems like "I Want It All" (which mocks the current trend of greedy Me-isms marketed to the witless as self-fulfillment) and the effects-enhanced opener, "Take Me to Your Leader" (which adds an unobtrusive but pointed guitar solo from Fastbacks' Kurt Bloch), stand out. Dust to Dirt won't change your life, but it will add a certain zing.

-- Linda Laban