*** Cash Audio

GREEN BULLET

(Touch and Go)

A raucous and rootsy rock duo-turned-trio who have been known to fry bacon on stage during their sets to create the proper ambiance, Cash Audio went by the name of Cash Money until legal tussles with the Cash Money rap label made a name change seem like a good idea. Other than that, not much has changed for these guys on their first disc with the new moniker. Their specialty is still a swampy high-octane blues as reimagined by Chicago white boys with a Led Zeppelin fixation. Melody is almost nonexistent, and finesse is beside the point.

Like most of Cash Audio's oeuvre, the tracks on Green Bullet sound so muddy that vocalist John Humphrey (formerly of God and Texas) might as well be underwater. Although they share some surface-level similarities with fellow indie-rock roadhouse punks the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Cash Audio are less pretentiously self-conscious and a lot more fun. The addition of harmonica player Dave Pasow to the guitar/drums format does seem to have steered the group away from the occasional countrified number that popped up on past Cash Money releases, if only because they're now so well equipped to tackle tracks like "44 Blues," which takes up where Hound Dog Taylor's version left off, and the Yardbirds' "Got To Hurry."

-- Allison Stewart