Back in the day, the profane question ‘what’re you fucken lookin’ at’ was less a genuine inquiry than the unavoidable preface to an invitation for physical confrontation. To respond to the query was dangerous in the extreme; the more considered approach was to feign ignorance (and maybe deafness), avert eye contact and hope the matter would miraculously disappear.
Given Los Dominados’ unfortunately irregular live appearances, it’s unlikely the band would have had too much opportunity to provoke its audience with such offensive greetings. And as much as such profanity is not something to seek out without due cause, in the case of Los Dominados, it’s worth considering, just to get the opportunity to hear its buzzsaw pop attack.
What’re You Fucken Lookin’ At definitely warrants serious attention. Lost Highway throws back to guitarist Helen Cattanach’s days in Moler, Kinsky bounces like a teenager free from the shackles of adult responsibility and in In Love With The World and Murder Is My Business, Los Dominados descend into the world of dark atmospherics and come up smiling. Tubular Headspray could have been retrieved from a lost Sleater Kinney recording session; on Mud Cattanach invokes the sassy vocal sneer of Bikini Kill’s Kathleen Hanna while Mike Alonso chops chords with the dexterity of a master craftsperson.
While Bass Audition channels the off-kilter ’60s pop sensibility of The Black Angels, there are the occasional moments of intense rock’n’roll self-indulgence – witness the deranged anti-revivalist ranting of Jesus Losers and the closing cerebral wanderings of Over and Over. The answer to the question posed in the album title is never easy to construct; maybe it’s merely appropriate to nod and gesticulate toward the music and let it do the talking.
Best Track: Mud
If You Like These, You’ll Like This: MOLER, SLEATER KINNEY
In A Word: Fuckengood.
