I admit an extreme bias for garage/punk girl groups. Black Tambourine is a perennial favorite of mine. I thought Pens had one of the most underrated albums of last year. The Vivian Girls? Let's just say that "worship" is far too tame a word. Much of this adoration arises from the mixture of rough-hewed muscular rock with feminine vocals and themes. As a male, I get guys. I know what makes us tick, but women remain forever alluring and foreign. Any peek into their inner world is captivating, and because the mode of communicate these women choose is garage/punk it is in a language I can understand, unlike, say, Taylor Swift. So, while it is often necessary to get my inner caveman on with the likes of High On Fire and Sunn O))), ultimately for a rocker boy there is nothing more enthralling than a girl with a guitar ripping it up and screaming/singing her heart out.
Enter the Dum Dum Girls. Originally lead singer/songwriter Dee Dee's one woman bedroom operation, the project started out as a lo-fi homage to the 60s girl group sound with a serrated edge. A couple of early eps evidenced a world of potential, but neither really prepare the listener for the Girls debut album "I Will Be."
In between those early eps and "I Will Be," the girl become the Girls, adding band members Jules on guitar and vocals, Bambi on bass, and former original Vivian Girl Frankie Rose on drums and vocals. The addition of Jules, Bambi and Frankie makes for a world of difference in the Dum Dum Girls sound. Whereas in the past minimalism, drum machines or lo-fi fuckery compensated for the fact that it was just Dee Dee laying down her wonderful, but not entirely realized, pop tunes, the Girls now sound like a full-throated rock band, with the muscle to back up Dee Dee's often troubled musings. Add producer Richard Gottehrer into the mix, the man responsible for "My Boyfriend's Back" and "I Want Candy," as well as producer to Voidoids, Blondie and the GoGos, and you have the makings for one of the most the perfect garage/punk girl group records to date. "I Will Be" is exactly that - perfect.
The album features dark angry rockers ("It Only Takes One Night," ""Oh Mein Me," "I Will Be") aching ballads ("Rest Of Our Lives," "Baby Don't Go") and pop gems ("Bhang Bhang, I'm A Burnout," "Jail La La") filtered through the prism of the Ronettes and Garageland in equal parts. This 50-50 split in influence is what sets the Dum Dum Girls apart from their peers. Whereas Pens and the Vivian Girls tilt more toward garage punk with a smattering of 60s girl group sound, Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound" is absolutely essential to the sound of the Dum Dum Girls, as is punk rock and all that it inspired. Listen closely to a song like "Blank Girl," one of the album's best tracks, and it becomes apparent that without either influence working in near equal measure, this perfect song, and by extension this perfect album, wouldn't exist. A duet between Dee Dee and husband Brandon Welchez of Crocodiles, the song sounds like a lost 60s bubblegum pop classic at first blush, but on closer inspection it's clear that some of the bricks in the Wall Of Sound are constructed of late 70s New York and 80s new wave. Conversely, the titular track finds the band rocking it like Riot Grrrls, but repeat listens reveal 60s girl group harmonies and psyche-inflected guitar noodling in between the bars.
Lyrically as well, Dee Dee combines influences to craft simple sounding songs that reveal much more on closer inspection. Whether it is the drug-induced earworm "Bhang Bhang" (which is so damn addictive, that it's kind of hard to be upset if one's very young daughters end up running around singing this ode to psychedelics), or the very bad trip to the county jail that is "Jail La La," Dee Dee crafts the most wonderfully catchy, but fairly damaged, lyrics that have come down the pike in a while.
In the end "I Will Be" is a truly superb album. In turns tuneful and abrasive, sweet and biting, the Dum Dum Girls is pop at its most confident, catchy and serious. Listening to this album only underscores the vacuousness of what passes these days for popular music. There is nothing of this depth, or this addictiveness on our airwaves, but there should be. Dee Dee is worth a hundred Britneys, GaGas, Jessicas, Taylors, Beyonces and Fergies. This is the real deal and it isn't any less fun, just a whole lot more fulfilling. And, for those rocker dudes who love women with guitars singing their heart out, as well as those women who are drawn to the serrated edge, it doesn't get any better than this.
"Jail La La"
"Blank Girl"
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