Skip to main content

Dum Dum Girls

86
Dum Dum Girls


Dum Dum Girls


Dum Dum Girls, named after a Vaselines album and Iggy Pop song, came onto my radar with their 2014 release Too True. Besides that album, they only had two other releases, 2010’s I Will Be & 2011's Only In Dreams. What’s kinda’ funny is I remember the album cover for I Will Be, because it was released as the same year as Vampire Weekend’s second album, Contra, & resembled the cover of that album. Remember when the whole Polaroid album cover thing had taken off into a trend. What can I say other than- if you like indie-rock- 12 times out of 10- you’re gonna’ like Dum Dum Girls. Too True remains one of my favorite albums to re-visit. Remember the line about lighting a candle & playing The Who’s Tommy and being able to see your entire future? Well, the same could said for Too True.  It takes you places. Reverb vocals, guitars + pedals, pop… slick-songwriting 'n' sensibility. Alright- I’m growing tired of my fandom… here are the logistics of the band: Dum Dum Girls were a ‘60s-inspired-lo-fi band, led by Kristin Gundred (stage name: Dee Dee Dum Dum) & founded in L.A. in 2008. Kristin (a.k.a. Dee Dee) quickly became an indie darling after their self-titled EP, specifically the track “Yours Alone” was released in 2009 and what started off as a solo-bedroom-project turned into a full-fledged band. They signed with legendary Sub Pop Records & their first single for the label was "Jail La La." Three albums & an EP later (the EP was titled He Gets Me High [and was recorded right before Kristine’s mother’s death) Dee Dee realized she was done being a Dum Dum, officially putting an end to Dum Dum Girls. She continues playing music as Kristin Kontrol but nothing will ever capture the magic and fun like the Dum Dum Girls. Here’s a video of them live on Letterman. It’s…
Dum Dum Girls

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cake

43 Cake Cake What you need is some CAKE. The late 90's were primed for CAKE. When the emotional hangover of the grunge scene was too much, we got CAKE. This isn't a gag joke. In fact- your gag reflexes are in need of some CAKE.  Despite CAKE's quirky surface, singer John McCrea's deadpan delivery and Vince Di Fiore's mariachi trumpet playing, CAKE is as real as it gets. And with more than 25 years as a band and still going strong, they have nothing left to prove. It all started with 1994's Motorcade for Generosity with the single " Rock 'n' Roll Lifestyle " which mocked trust-fund rebels. Then came 1996's Fashion Nugget with the all-time classic " The Distance ." 1998 gave us Prolonging the Magic, a high-water mark. I got on board in 2001 with Comfort Eagle . I was big on disco at the time and their cover of " I Will Survive " caught my attention, and then I saw the " Short Skirt, Long Jacket " video o...

Grouper

 131 Grouper  Grouper Reverb. Echo. Effects. Acoustic. Droney. These are some words you could use to explain Grouper's earlier work. Grouper is the solo project of Liz Harris. Her first album was self-titled & self-released. Grouper's second album was 2006's Way Their Crept . There was something special about that mid-ought's droney-underwater sounding indie. Grouper would go on to release five (!) more albums before I came on board as a fan: 2006's Wide , 2007's Cover The Windows & The Walls , 2008's widely acclaimed Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill & 2011's double-album (but separately released) AIA: Dream Loss & AIA: Alien Observer ... just to be followed up by 2012's double album: Violent Replacement Part I and Violent Replacement Part II . It wasn't until Grouper's more structured-releases that I became a full fledged fan. It was with 2013's The Man Who Died In His Boat that I finally jumped on board as a full-fled...

The Band

19 The Band The Band First known as the Hawks, the Band got their initial fame as Bob Dylan’s backing band. Remember when Bob Dylan sold out and went electric, angering fans so much that they called him “ Judas ”? Well, you can thank all of that to the Band. For a band that sounds so fucking American (seriously- no band has done the whole Americana roots music better than the Band) it’s pretty funny most of them were Canadian. After finally branching out on their own in 1968, the Band would release some of the best music ever recorded… and if you thought the Beatles had a hell of a run- check out the Band’s discography: 1968’s Music From Big Pink , 1969’s self-titled The Band , 1970’s Stage Fright , 1971’s Cahoots , 1972’s live-album Rock of Ages , 1973’s Moondog Matinee , 1975’s Northern Lights -Southern Cross , and 1977’s Islands. Lynard Skynard may have taken the crown for greatest southern rock band, but for a band full of Canadians and Americans, the Band really embraces a...