Live at The Old Blue Last with Yuck and La La Vasquez. Weds 24th Feb.
(SEXBEAT)
We never thought we'd be able to say this.... but we saw a little band at the Old Blue Last on wednesday night and it sounded fantastic!
For a venue which has been putting on great bands for years, the recent refurb has appeared to exorcise most of the problems which sparked a lacklustre evening (The sound blokes always been good, we're not having a dig) and entirely fitting for a Dum Dum Girls show which surpassed any of their scuzzy garage intentions.
It was those smashin lads Sexbeat again last week, providing us with the first of a string of DD birds London dates and a lineup to keep the genetically identical east london faithful as punch pleased as the en mass label supremos in attendance to see openers Yuck and La La Vasquez.
We haven't quite made our mind up on either of these guys/gals yet, Yuck are the lastest working the hype machine and it's no wonder with the departed members of Cajun Dance Party on board (who were actually alright, it's just good pop no matter what you think) but the Thurston Moore vocals can get a little tiring. Having an American drummer isn't quite enough justification for this Yank-a-fied wailing, we reckon. I'm quite sure we'll be proved wrong on this; they'll be huge, play four days at Knebworth and won't care what this poxy blog writes anyway. So wear those influences like a Traffic Wardens uniform lads.
La La Vasquez are girls playing guitars, and that's enough for us. We'd like to have our own little La La's we could keep in a drawer and return in times of Winter hardship for a smile and a cuddle.
We're quite happy to fall into the self-imposed stereotyping of girl bands as cute because a) they are b) it's easy and c) with the likes of Viv girls and the Dum Dum's around you might get a few shows out of it but you won't quite be as good. Just nice enough.
And so onto the Dum Dum Girls. We've been waiting for this one for a while. There's this amazing American zine called Yeti which is basically everything Tally Ho has ever wanted to be. Pretty pictures, great short stories and amazing compilations of new bands. Well Dum Dum Girls first properly came to my attention in that. I'm sure that will upset the more web friendly of my co-bloggers 'God man we heard that stuff like, forever ago'.
But anyway, whether you've been waiting a year... or two, this show was entirely worth it. There's usually something lost in the live performance of our genre-spanning labelled americans, I mean you can't imagine the likes of Smith Westerns or Fresh & Only's without some kind of Ridley's world of wonders carnival-esque smash.
What the Dum Dums probably regard as the distorted, low-fi authenticity stamp of their records like last years 'Your Alone E.P' vanishes on stage. Your left with the kind of ethereal pop beauty of Mary Weiss leading her pack away from Queen's back streets and down a sunshine, beer soaked road to the coast.
Favourites 'Hey Sis' and 'Catholicked' manage to retain the punk sound lead singer and founder Dee Dee must hold dear, whilst also acting as a prelude to 50's pop ambition. It's this combination of melodic awareness and groaning guitar that pull the band way ahead of the crowd. Just listen to new single 'Jail La La' live or on the record and you'll understand just how perfectly they've managed to eat up the ground between teen heartbreak and garage dirt.
A beautiful voice, perfect pop and did we mention they're cute too. More please....
