Hardest Walk

Contemporaries of the White Stripes, Detroit's bass guitar-less Soledad Brothers aspire to the grainy, trebly, raw rock sound perfected by the Stooges in the 1960s and early '70s, taking their musical cues from '60s garage rock, the MC5, and the early Rolling Stones. "Downtown Paranoia Blues" and "Crooked Crown" are quintessential Motor City rock & roll, while "Good Feeling" falls midway between perky sunshine pop and psychedelia. Speaking of which, on "Loup Garou," the band appear to have indulged wholesale in the pill that makes you larger, while the Incredible String Band-like "True to Zou-Zou" bears distinct traces of the one that makes you small.