Stop Screaming, Start Dreaming, Sci-Fi Girl Records

Back in the mid-1990s, The Dirty 9s would probably have been megastars, at least in Ireland. Lucy Opus? Weeknight Lovers?Guaranteed hits. In 2010, though, the young band is purveying what has become an overdone indie-rock sound that chugs and dribbles along without really going anywhere.

Their debut album’s main faux pas is its unnecessary emulation of Brit bands such as The Bluetones and The Charlatans; without some much-needed variance both in tone and song structure, these 10 short songs meander aimlessly and predictably between each catchy chorus. It’s sincere indie music by a band with undeniable potential. Yet if The Dirty 9s don’t want to end up as also-rans like Aslan, they need to lose the rhyming dictionary and inject some personality into their music. See thedirty9s.com

Download tracks: Weeknight Lovers, Car Crash