Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

Far From Finished is a quartet from New York, or a quintet or a trio from Boston. Or something. The membership of the aggregation is somewhat hazy and inconsistent, I think partially by deliberation. What is a certainty is that Far From Finished is really, really good.

Living in the Fallout is the third proper CD from Far From Finished, loaded from beginning to end with anthemic punk tunes that will put you in the mind of the Sex Pistols, The Clash (very early, when they were good), The Pogues, and Social Distortion. Living in the Fallout is released, quite appropriately from the sounds of things, on Think Fast! Records.

I‘m way outside of the demographics at which Living in the Fallout is aimed ---every guy in his late 20s who is waiting tables and wondering where his life is going --- well, outside of two-thirds of it anyway, but that hasn‘t stopped me from blasting this bad boy at 11 volume. I can’t quite bring myself to sing along to it, but I do find myself singing the chorus to Roses & Razor Blades at inopportune and inappropriate times, like in the supermarket line or waiting for my red beans and rice at Popeye’s. Just Us Kids (November) is a rollicking, 180 mph tribute to childhood friends who have gone ahead that does a real cool about face two-thirds of the way through. Living in the Fallout has a number of small and surprising flourishes like that which add to things without distracting from the band’s undeniable and unstoppable energy.

Living in the Fallout never stops, not for a minute. It’s an exhilarating, angry and melodically clever slab of rock that will command your attention from first note to last. Fabulous stuff.