Artist Left Alone

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Left Alone

Unless you’re a member of The Specials, you probably deserve to have that porkpie hat slapped off your head. Left Alone, though, deserves a little slack: For more than 10 years, the California band has taken the predictable Hellcat Records formula of street-punk and ska and, well, made it just as predictable. But the lack of novelty is the band’s strength. 2006’s Dead American Radio is a shout-along scorcher that’s as raw as Rancid used to be, and leader Elvis Cortez launches some indelibly catchy and even clever songwriting into the disc’s screaming punk vortex. The band’s latest release is its 2009 self-titled album.

Updated 07/20/2011