As advertised, Spanish quintet Los Chicos celebrates two decades of irreverent, incendiary garage punk and pub rock with the unwieldily titled 20 Years of Shakin’ Fat & Launching Shit by Medical Prescription. (The title not only updates the group’s first best-of, 10 Years of Shakin’ Fat & Launching Shit, but alludes to nearly all of their studio albums at the same time.) And speaking of titles, the ones attached to these songs give you a good idea of how Los Chicos see the world: “Party Boogie,” “Rockanrolla,” “Beer Ain’t Drinking,” “Sheep Attack,” and, of course, the irresistible, comp-opening “We Sound Amazing but We Look Like Shit.” The aesthetic is exactly what you’d expect – three chord romps that drag fifties rock & roll through a Nuggets filter, with some C&W and R&B seasoning – but this music depends more on personality and energy than originality. Twin guitarists Antonio and Gerardo Urchaga supply plenty of fireworks in that regard, and singer Rafa Suñen’s fire-breathing rasp has enough character for twenty garage rock bands. Check out the power popping “I Don’t Wanna Learn,” the cheeky blaster “A Kingdom of Coolness,” the brooding rager “Nothing” and the brief but high voltage “Vision” for the coolest kicks, but if garage rock is your meat, 20 Years of Shakin’ Fat & Launching Shit by Medical Prescription is your latest all-night buffet.
