Starters Alternators (1998)

An ultralefty collective that's been around almost as long as Trotsky (okay, since '79), the avant-punk quintet, The Ex, is Holland's answer to Chumbawamba. But don't look for them on pop radio: Though their latest, Starters Alternators. is full of jagged guitars and impassioned vocals, it's as creatively abrasive as ever (but not as sophisticated as their work with the late cellist Tom Cora). B+