The Soviettes

Sassy girl/boy rockers the Soviettes are more fun than a bottle of vodka and way more exciting than living on the other side of the Iron Curtain. On the band’s latest album, LP II, the Minneapolis foursome barrels through 14 songs like the Rezillos on a bar-hopping bender with X and the Go-Go’s. Unlike other bratty new wave punkettas, however, the Soviettes add plenty of intriguing spice and sonic detours to their three-chord rhumbas. Drummer and token male Danny sounds like Johnny Rotten yelling at his mohawked daughters on “Pass the Flashlight,” and “Channel X” hums and whirls like early Sloan.