Fontaines D.C. “Dogrel” 2019. Partisan Records. Dark, noisy, jangly post-punk from Dublin, Dogrel is Fontaines D.C.’s debut record and I absolutely love it! I remember hearing the single “Boys in the Better Land” a couple of years ago on one of our local community radio stations and immediately noting the band’s name on my console’s display to check out ASAP. I’m not sure the album made big inroads into the US market but Dogrel hit huge in the UK, going to #9 and to #4 in both Ireland and Scotland. Most of the tracks are hard-rocking, beat driven overlaid with Brian Chatten’s distinctly flat (but appealing!) almost-speaking vocals and echoey guitars that call to mind first-wave post punks like Bauhaus, The Cure, etc. (see especially “The Lotts” which is especially gothy). I have a lot of top tracks because the record is so damn good! “Boys in the Better Land” of course (which I recall hearing is a commentary on anti-immigrant sentiment), but also “Too Real” and “Chequeless Reckless” (both lamenting the pitfalls of unchecked capitalism: “money is the sandpit of the soul”), “Hurricane Laughter” and “Liberty Bell” which is a surfy-60’s punk pop bopper.