It’s been foretold on this hallowed ground that 2009 is the year of the lady in rock and what we have here is no less than four felines from Texas who have already been branded Karen O’s “favourite new bitch band”. ‘Casual Goths’ brings together the band’s three 7” releases along with some previously unreleased material from their four years together.
Their unimaginative name tells you what to expect I guess, but if you need validation of the musical genre then the play list comprises 26 songs that just manage to nudge past the half-hour mark – punk indeed! The sound is certainly very raw and back to basics, with a frenetic pace throughout. It’s all very disjointed and oozes spiteful angst and, as hard as it is to get along with, endears you somewhat to carry on (not least that all the songs are very short).
There are moments of powerful grunt and grind on Boyfriend Application and traumatic disorder on Know Age, both of which are stand out tracks. Top song of the collection is Primary Colors which illustrates a greater degree of refinement and here, as in a few other places, there are reminders of The Creatures when they were disturbing folk with strange noises back in the eighties!
There are a few throwaway tunes like Baldcake that lacks direction plus an interesting version of Nirvana’s Negative Creep; the only song to make it beyond two minutes. Overall it is very earthy, Neanderthal and hard to digest but it does display enough originality for these times to merit attention. They’re currently touring the UK with The Sticks and may well be worth getting there early for. Meanwhile, with The Yeah Yeah Yeahs trying to become Blondie on their latest album, this could be one of the more brutal kicks up the arse we should be craving!
