Crazy good rock ’n’ roll

What’s the best straight-up rock ’n’ roll record to come from these parts this year? Read on and find out in the latest roundup of Las Vegas music releases:

■ Crazy Chief, “Chrome Werewolf” (crazychiefmusic.bandcamp.com): When Drew Johnson sings of cheap thrills and loose ladies on the harmonica-immolating “She’s So Easy,” he brings to mind himself and his bandmates as much as any woman — at least in terms of the ageless, inexhaustible quality of certain kicks.

Yeah, it’s plenty laudable to do something new, but there’s also value in doing something that’s been done a million times before and finding a way to do it better.

This is what Crazy Chief does: The bandmates’ cowbell crushing, hormone juicing rock ’n’ roll is as well-worn as all the denim this bunch comes clad in — and they wear it just as well. There’s Johnson, howlin’ about wizards and whiskey, his voice emanating from somewhere between his soul and gut. His bluster is matched by guitarists Jessie Amoroso and Nick Thompson, the former ripping lead after lead, the latter’s playing providing the flexed biceps of Crazy Chief’s muscular grooves.

■ The Unwieldies, “Always The Optimist” (facebook.com/theunwieldies): Danielle and Robert Bell are husband and wife, id and ego, accomplice and foil, fire and, well, plenty more fire.

Their relationship, musically and otherwise, forms the core of The Unwieldies, who navigate biting, bittersweet folk, a touch of country-western longing and a jazzy vamp or two, their songs of battle-hardened love accented with saxophone, clarinet, dobro and intermittent percussion.

It’s not all matters of the heart, though: “Bad Seeds” bemoans dissolving civil liberties with Jack Ball’s violin playing providing an emotional counterpoint to the song’s hard-hearted sentiments. It’s followed by a cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Everybody Knows,” a funeral procession for hope.

Even when singing of life’s sour notes, though, the Bells remain in key with one another, at least. Ultimately that’s enough for them — and us.

■ Bounty Hunter Brothers, “So Clever So Classless So Free” (http://bountyhunterbrothers.bandcamp.com): Vocal cords and guitar strings get bent and brutalized alike on this restless, agitated EP.

“Nirvana Doesn’t Exist” is both the title of the final song here and a fitting encapsulation of the overriding sentiment of the Brothers’ searching, existentialist noise rock.

Since their last record, 2013’s “Paid in Full,” the Brothers have added a sister: singer-multi-instrumentalist Shannon Haffa, who shares vocal duties with guitarist Bobby Pesti and bassist William Davenport and takes the lead on “Bleached,” a song that snarls like “Pretty on The Inside”-era Hole.

Contact reporter Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476. Follow on Twitter @JasonBracelin.