The word 'swagger' is often used in laudatory terms to describe bands who have a bit of a 'don't give a fuck' attitude and can string a few chords together, usually veiling the fact that they ain't that good at all. Y'know, Oasis after '97, Jet, Kasabian, and the like - a little bit angry, but fundamentally shit.
Louie, however, are seemingly a rare breed - they've got overflowing amounts of the stuff, and are rather good to back it all up. Their output to date, slabs of mile-a-minute, New York Dolls/Buzzcocks/Jam inspired punk rock, have displayed these two virtues, and have subsequently seen them establish themselves as a band that matter in a climate where many don't.
And on Dead Man, their third single, they stick to the winning formula - riffs a plenty and two screeching, enraged vocalists singing splendidly drugged up lines like "my eyes are working, but my brain works funny." And as usual, it's short, brutally sharp, and leaves you pretty much breathless by the end of its two and a half minutes - the sound of Danny McNamara being ambushed and beaten up on a rollercoaster, in other words, and for that we must salute them.
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