Le Butcherettes – A Raw Youth

Shards of ‘80s synth (My Malley; Witchless C Spot). Grungy, pre-millennial attitude (They Fuck You Over; The Hitchhiker). Scuzzy, sidewalk bass (pretty much every track). All this, and there’s a discernible retro feel to the Tex-Mex garage punks' third long player, Teri Gender Bender prowling the space between alluring frontwoman and politicised focal point with élan.

Yet there’s no over-reliance upon formula behind A Raw Youth, and whilst comparisons with Yeah Yeah Yeahs are as relevant as they are lazy, the musical landscape the trio cross features enough twists and feints to throw the complacent off the scent. Produced by Omar Rodríguez-López, formerly of The Mars Volta, and featuring guest turns from John Frusciante and Iggy Pop (the latter – La Uva – a curious and caustic slab of atonality), this is a ballsy, confident proposition, and whilst Gender Bender’s lyrics frequently deal with difficult subjects and dispossessed narratives, there’s zero sense of audience being hectored.