*** THE VEGAS BEAT

(Candy-Ass)

Like fellow Oregon lesbian rockers Team Dresch, the Vegas Beat appropriate the DIY spirit of straight-white-boy punk for their own empowerment and, more important, amusement. The similarity shouldn't come as any surprise to fans who have been following the rocky saga of Team Dresch over the past year, which has seen the group's unstable line-up shift to include guitarist Amanda Kelley and drummer Marci Martinez. And, yes, Kelley and Martinez have also been moonlighting as the singing/songwriting force behind the emotionally charged, muscular melodicism of the Vegas Beat.

The duo clearly have a sexual-political agenda, which pretty much comes with the territory for dyke punks and gives their songs the kind of earnest edge that was once the domain of the boys in the DC punk scene (Minor Threat, Rites of Spring, Fugazi). The mid-tempo strum-and-drone guitar-bass-and-drums of "Cyst" is played against a background tape of what sounds like a radio talk-show host commenting on the evils of homosexuality. But elsewhere Kelley and Martinez opt for personal introspection over political agitation, and for the classic combination of brisk beats, bristling hooks, and frayed melodies over either.

-- Matt Ashare

(The Vegas Beat play this Wednesday, July 9, at the Fishtown Artspace in Gloucester with Mancie; call 508-283-1381. They play the following night, July 10, upstairs at the Middle East in Cambridge with Glissenette and Moveable; call 864-EAST.)