More info: www.squint.com

Verdict (& Rating) : Vibrant, exciting and classy  (90%)

Squint consists of Dane Adrian (vocals), Matt Fredrickson (guitar), Young Charles (bass) & Tote (drums). The band was started in Michigan by Dane and Matt and are now relocated to Lousiana. "Tinsel Life" is the follow up to 1998's Beeker album.

The whole Nu-Breed thing seemed to happen at a time when my interest in music was waning and it has remained largely unexplored terratory for me. Of course, Harem Scarem's experiements with the genre made it into my collection. As did one Marv 3 album which doesn't seem to have made it into my CD player that often. So my expectations for this album were fairly modest.

So I was surprised when the GnR meets the Ramones noise of "Anthem For Closure" made me stop whatever else I was doing and pay attention. Halfway through the song I reckoned punk meets glam (Ramones meets Poison) was a more valid comparison. By the time I'd listened to "Glimmer and Phrase" I remembered a band called Chequered Past featuring ex Pistol Steve Jones.

A song like "Postergirl" shows that the band have actually taken a bit of time to think about the lyrics. It is an amusing tale of searching for the perfect girl. "Unfinished", "Shadow Shadow", "Quite" and "Well Hell" all romp along with the quality being consistently high.Vocalist "Dane" rasps out the songs with just right amount of emotion without losing control and letting melody fall by the wayside. By the time "Well Hell" arrives, one criticism that could be levelled at the band is that the songs are all a bit one paced, but when they're as catchy this who cares!

After listening to this album, somehow "No-Name" is the track that sticks. Yeah, just what want- to go around with the phrase 'You're a no-name bastard' buzzing around my head.On "Random Caring" the vocals really remind of local punk merchants Stiff Little Fingers' Jake Burns. The title track, "Tinsel Life" closes the album with finesse and is a contender for best track on the album.

Squint seem to have captured the engery of punk with the catchiness of pop and thrown in enough rock elements to create an album that is really special.