The Datsuns

Dave Grohl loves ’em. So do Lars Ulrich and the White Stripes. So what’s the big deal about the Datsuns? For better or worse, they’ve already been comfortably lumped in with the second (or is it third?) wave of the neo-garage rock revival, and it’s kind of hard to imagine how they’ll stand out. There’s little that’s clever about their debut record: The New Zealand quartet pulls as much from AC/DC and Grand Funk Railroad as they do from the Stooges, reveling in the big-rock dumbness of it all. But this isn’t exactly bad news. The swaggering guitar licks running up and down songs like “Freeze Sucker” and “MF From Hell” are an impressive mix of dexterity and attitude, while frontman Dolf de Datsun’s (yes, they all have adopted “Datsun” as their last names) vocals are all attitude. Simplicity trumps innovation, and for the most part, that’s just fine. Instead of trying to think of some brilliant new way to play the same old power chords, the Datsuns just stomp them out with a fury.