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Admit it, you've never realized that "Amsterdam" and "hamster jam" rhyme really well. They do. I think there's something in the water over in the UK these days. Wales gaveth McLusky and then tooketh away. Maybe White Trash Ambition, hailing from Bristol, can fill part of the void in my heart.

That's a tall order, but their first full-length offering What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up is a good start. The album kicks off with a we-could-play-for-50-years-and-never-top-this number called "The Hamster Jam," which has to be the best individual song I've heard in 2005. It represents the very best in organized chaos - it's predictable, but so is the sunset. I don't love it any less for being dependable. Bassline and drums rumble along, then comes the churn and trans-octave screaming chorus. Something about London, Dublin, and possibly other cities as well. Who cares. This rocks. Fortunately the album does not let up...at least not initially. "Guitar Attack" shows just how much potential this band has. The staccato guitar and drums swing like balls in the breeze, but overall the band stays tighter than a pre-teen Mormon girl. After a nice full-on rocker ("Cut Me Off") the disc starts to drift. Many of the later tracks meander and seem to lack purpose. They have the unfortunate effect of making the disc feel a bit long. There is really only an EP worth of material here. But what an EP it is. I'm willing to overlook the tracks that are simply tagging along.

If White Trash Ambition can stay together long enough to build on this disc - a tall order for any UK band, the lifespans of which are typically measured in seconds - this is going to be a force to reckon with in the future.

Ed

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