The Dirtbombs

The Dirtbombs have achieved the improbable with We Have You Surrounded, its fifth full-length over a decade of destroying decibel meters and garage rock conventions. With apologies to Sly & the Family Stone, call it There's a Riot Goin' On Revisited, as the double-bass and double-drum Detroit band goes for the jugular — politically and sonically — and reserves their best hook for "La Fin du Monde," an apocalyptic fuzz-out sung entirely in French. At every ear-rending opportunity, ex-Gories singer Mick Collins takes the piss out of society and scene. "We're all handy, so handy to keep you happy and free," he snarls on "Pretty Princess Day," "from learning that everything outside of you is burning!" The Dirtbombs don't say whether the world ends in a rock & roll party or an urban riot — but either way they have the soundtrack.