The Mekons’ Jon Langford and The Ex’s drummer/vocalist Kat Ex are not only longtime friends, but longtime musical collaborators:  e.g., Kat drummed with Langford’s Three Johns in the ‘80s and he produced various The Ex discs. Merging the two bands’ punk energy with the twang of the Waco Brothers (Langford’s other key group) makes for particularly vigorous musical expression, and pairing the whiskey-soaked growl of Langford with the crystalline tones of Kat Ex is sheer genius. Their duet on “Hey You Don’t Love Me” is as touching as any Emmylou Harris/Gram Parsons number.  Of course, political commentary is big here, with both artists being no strangers to sharp tongued dissent. The lovely “Conquered” pairs the chains of love with the shackles of the dominant culture, and “Do You?” is a rollicking, polyrhythmic indictment of wartime patriotism. “Red Flag” is more raw nerve, Ex-style punk than Mekons raggedy rock, a pulsing, stinging number with Kat pummeling her drum kit and Langford’s jagged guitar parts cutting like glass. Nowhere is Kat’s vocal expression as moving and pure as it is on the chilling “Bad Apples,” recalling both The Ex and the earliest Grace Slick vocals with Jefferson Airplane back in the day — gorgeous and transcendent.