Powerpuff Girls
Girl Talk
Girls Against Boys
Spice Girls
Dum Dum Girls, I Will Be
Singer/guitarist/drummer Dee Dee’s first LP under the guise of Dum Dum Girls, I Will Be, is wrapped in reverb and bundled in fuzz, sent to the ’60s and returned via post-punk. The original lo-fi cuts were recorded in early 2009, then polished by one-time Go-Gos producer Richard Gottehrer into pop tunes driven by catchy, if not repetitive, beats. However, the minor rhythmic variances actually work well. Each track bleeds into the next, warranting a complete listen to the under-30-minute CD. Post-production, the L.A.-based Girls authentically pluralized from one to four female members, and the melodramatic, buzzsaw-y “Oh Mein Me” will benefit from the ensemble approach live, while many listeners will latch onto the vocal clarity and simplicity of “Jail La La.” The highlights are the few slowdowns. “Rest of Our Lives” is a sweet song, with echo-y, sparse drums. “I Will Be” has an ethereal airiness in Dee Dee’s vocals. With short, punchy songs, there’s no need for smoke breaks or over-analyzing. The discernible themes are about freaking out from an overwhelmingly perfect life—love comes, goes and is obsessively clung to, thus, capturing the restless, oscillating emotions of matured teenage angst, all while maintaining a strut-y, head-bobbing vibe. (Sub Pop)
Holly Golightly & the Brokeoffs, Medicine Country
Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs—Golightly’s co-conspirator Lawyer Dave—are still mining woebegone tunes to evoke back-country sensibilities. Golightly’s sometimes nasally yet charming voice gives the songs an antique-y, washboard-cleaned feel. The guitar riffs are thick as country gravy, while the rhythms roll like biscuit wheels. “Forget It,” the album highlight and surf-noir opener, has a Pulp Fiction vibe, while Tom Heinl joins the hoedown for a buttery duet on “Blood on the Saddle.” As usual, Golightly conjures up holy images with quirky pseudo-gospel: In the funky “When He Comes,” she sings “Waitin’ here for Jesus/ But how’s he going to see us/ When he comes,” propelled by a gut-checked slide-guitar. “Dearly Departed” dips into soulful, stripped-down country and folk, while “Don’t Fail Me Now” has all the ghostly blues to start a revival. The tracks alternately lift up and depress, touching on every mood in between and working against the overall playability in terms of listening from start to finish. All in all, though, like a hillbilly housewife in the kitchen, Medicine Country has enough bacon for a full-flavored pot of greens. (Transdreamer)
