Blasting garage rock dominates the scene

A tutorial in Vegas punk rock, “The Matrix”-inspired hip-hop and some garage rock raunch highlight the latest roundup of Vegas music releases:

BLOODCOCKS UK, “Planet Bloodcock” (bloodcocksuk.com): What the Bloodcocks lack in morals they make up for in dead cheerleaders.

The garage rock equivalent of the porn rag stashed beneath junior’s mattress, this trio comes hard with the kind of perverse thrills best served with a precautionary shot of penicillin.

Powered by a go-go-go beat that approximates the pelvic thrusts of the oversexed and underdressed ne’er-do-wells who populate “Planet Bloodcock,” the band’s television-jingle-catchy proto punk offers no frills, no remorse and definitely no underwear.

Mostly getting the job done in less than two minutes, these shameless or shameful (you decide) sing-alongs reference ’60s Brit pop and debonair spy theme motifs, only slowing down long enough to tell the tale of “Agent Double-O Bloodcock,” a James Bond type who gets commemorated via a bikini-dropping vamp where inhibitions get tossed aside like said swimwear.

PHOENIX ORION, “Bionik” (campfiremusic.com): Digital Age paranoia informs “Bionik,” the tense, dystopian vision of this sci-fi obsessed MC who name checks both Kool Herc and Captain Kirk in the space of a few bars here.

Hip-hop has long informed two of the most rhythmically relentless subsects of electronic dance music, drum ’n’ bass and dubstep, but Phoenix Orion treats all three as if they were one and the same on his latest release, where his frantic, forcefully delivered rhymes dodge torpedoing bass lines, blasts of synth that sound as if the instrument in question was short circuiting and beats that reverberate with the intimidating thud of someone trying to kick in your front door.

Figuratively speaking, that’s exactly what Orion is trying to do here.

VARIOUS ARTISTS, “Desert Rats with Baseball Bats” (squidhatrecords.com): A CliffsNotes of the contemporary Vegas punk ranks, this 21-song compilation is akin to establishing permanent residence at the Double Down — only you’ll smell better in the end.

“Desert Rats” doubles as both a punk rock primer for newbies and a killer mixtape for those already in the know. Be it S.F.T. courting sore throats with the speedball rush of “Bored,” The People’s Whiskey living hard and playing harder on “Bar Esteem,” Shotguns N’ Gasoline pissing off their bosses on “OSHA Boy” or Aluminum Falcon waking the neighbors on “As the City Sleeps,” to name but a few, the only thing missing is something to soak up all the sweat and spilled beer.

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