Cobra Verde

Haven’t Slept All Year

[3.5/5]

Cobra Verde’s tunes on Haven’t Slept All Year realize the debauchery implied by the album’s title. Year’s leering glitter-glam, youth-riot power-pop and grimy synthpop echo the greats: David Bowie, the New York Dolls, New Order, Big Star and Judas Priest among many others. Album opener “World Can’t Have Her” is a crunchy garage-rock explosion, while the classic-rock “Riot In The Foodcourt” features gang-vocal choruses and the immortal howl, “I’m in love with strippers on drugs.” The seedy jazz-club number “Wasted Again” is just as blunt: As a grimy muted trumpet wails in the background, a boisterous chorus exclaims, “Wasted again, and I like it!/Wasted again, and I want you!” Glamorous decay and excessive partying has never sounded sexier, dirtier or more fun. (SCAT; scatrecords.com) Annie Zaleski