XXX Audio plays the kind of hard-charging, female-fronted rock and roll defined by a slew of '90s indie bands -- Throwing Muses, Breeders, Tsunami -- and does it well. Denise Maupin sings like a smart girl with a past -- melodic, tough, bereft of illusions, but occasionally quite sweet. Sounding a good bit like Jenny Toomey, she holds her own with a croon or a whisper, rising above the din of guitar and crunch of bass without visible effort. She can do the howl or the wail, too, but like Debra Harry or Chrissy Hynde, she sounds best when she's keeping something in reserve. The rest of the band -- Brian Burnside on guitars, Slicey Kraft on bass and Lee Taylor on drums -- provides the muscular underpinnings to her siren call, powering the churning pop of "Reptile", the lush '90s haze of "House of Cards" and the slow, bass-driven groove of "Static". These are all memorable songs, built on simple, repetitive hooks that slash and cut around Maupin's singing. There's something magic about the way that the "Hey, Hey" chorus of "Death By Public Transportation" bounces off the garagey guitar riff (It sounds a bit like the Romantics' "What I Like About You"), and it is this juxtaposition of sinuous singing and hot-wired riffs that makes Like Pumping Gas on Fire so enjoyable. This is good stuff -- maybe not great yet, but showing lots of potential.