Nothington - All In

After the disolution of punk rockers Tsunami Bomb, guitarist Jay Northington and drummer Gabriel Lindeman went on to form Nothington, reinventing their sound and putting Northington behind the mike of this cowpunk powerhouse. Their new sound is coarse with an underlying perfection.

All In is an album heavily laden with twangy bits of street punk. It's equal parts Ducky Boys and Social Distortion, equal parts honky tonk and punk rock, and equal parts desperation and inspiration. They don't overdo it by unplugging their instruments or forcing a drawl, they simply play sincerely, and end up replicating some of the energy of Social D at their height.

Vocalist J. Northington serves up the whole album with lyrics sung through vocal chords soaked in whiskey and cigarettes; his sound is coarse like he won the gig in a smoking contest, and his words are belied by a genuine swagger. He's either pure punk rock cowboy or cowboy punk rocker (I'm not sure which... but then again, does it really matter?).

The record comes out swinging with "Where I Stand", a beer-soaked anthem that with its requisite punk rock "Whoah" singalong chorus. It's a perfect intro, and could carry the album on its own, if it needed to.

Fortunately, it doesn't need to. There are no bad tracks on here. Tunes like "Bottom Line" and "This Means War" provide gritty, upbeat rock and songs like "Going Home" and "Sell Out" and take you back to early Lucero or "Ball and Chain"-era Social D. Both sounds work for the band, and mix up the album enough to keep it from ever stagnating.

I love country-infused punk rock when it doesn't try to hard to get the sound. You can't force twang without the sound ending up fake. When a band like Nothington comes along, playing it naturally, it makes you wish there were more bands like this, even though you know it would just lead to more fake-sounding bands fronted by faux cowboys. All In is BYO Records' first release for 2007, which is also their 25th anniversary. It's a solid choice, and it has me hoping that this will be a banner year for a seminal label.