Vivian Girls

Oh, man, am I glad for this band and what they do. I can't say that they're the first batch of musicians to sound the way they do, and they probably won't be the last, but they cater to an underserved market: Me. Me and my ilk. People who like Throwing Muses and Unrest. People who like reverb-drenched guitars and a rhythm section that percolates. People who like a band that sounds perfectly lovely when they record sorta lo-fi. People who got the shit end of the stick when "college rock" turned to "Alternative" and the creativity was mined out of the genre (such as it was).

"So what do they actually sound like, bubba dean?"

They sound awesome. They are 3 ladies who write short, simple pop songs and then they play them. Thing is, they are at once ethereal and raw, bubbly and melancholy. It's sort of hard to nail down. The drums are punkish but not abrasive, the bass is simple but not slouchy, and the vocals are gentle and layered. The guitar has lots of reverb jangle and is both raggedy and amorphously smooth. Everything about the music is an exercise in opposites. It's a throwback to music 20 years old and at the same time, it sounds fresh because music like this was always sort of a niche market.

"So what do they actually sound like, Ramon?"

Fuck, they sound pretty damn good to me. Get the damn record and see for yourself.