*** N.O. FI

(Turducken)

Surf and garage rock in New Orleans? Sure enough, here's a roomful of disorderly Crescent City bands who couldn't give two shits about that city's musical traditions -- for these folks, "second line" apparently means something illicit that you do backstage between drinks. Recorded live over the past year, these seven bands pass the garage-cred test: they sound as if they'd found this stuff deep in their hormones instead of learning it all via Back from the Grave CDs. The Royal Pendletons pinch a cover tune from the Lyres' repertoire ("Stormy," originally by the Jesters of Newport). The Ramparts' "Evacuation Route" makes a three-minute distillation of Dick Dale's entire repertoire.

The Pendletons are probably the most established band here (Alex Chilton produced an earlier EP), and they score a coup for digging up the frontman of an obscure '60s band, the Better Half Dozen, to cover their "I'm Gonna Leave" -- a great previously undiscovered girlfriend trasher. Despite their White Zombie connection (bassist Sean Yseult, who didn't make this gig), the Famous Monsters come off like Josie & the Pussycats playing for goth kids; but that's a compliment. Hit of the bunch is the Darkest Hours' "Dedication," with frontman J. Matthew Uhlman doing a Fleshtones-style six-minute monologue in which he brags about everything from the drummer's day job to the Schlitz consumption that nearly gets them booted off stage.

-- Brett Milano