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Get It Review by Jo-Ann Greene Say Seattle outside of
Washington state, and the inevitable response is Pearl Jam, Soundgarden,
and Nirvana. But besides those Emerald City rock monsters, the city
has also hosted pop heroes the Posies and a thriving punk scene, as
MXPX fans will quickly acclaim. Young guns the Lashes fall somewhere
between these two latter musical threads, "stroppy pop for now
people." They certainly attack their songs with all the fervor
of any self-respecting punk band, but their arrangements are much
denser and rock-flecked, hailing back to the halcyon days of the late
'70s, when surly pop-rockers like the young Tom Petty and even wacky
Cheap Trick could lay claim to punkdom or at least to riding the new
wave. Following up on their much acclaimed debut EP The Stupid
Stupid, the Lashes now return with their first full-length, Get
It, and indeed you should. Storming across 11 songs, well nine,
really — "Dear Hollywood" is more downbeat, "Sometimes
the Sun" more effervescent — the group slam out a stream
of rich melodies, driving rhythms, and catchy choruses. From the punky
opener "New Best Friend" through the Big Star-like closer
"Wanna Girl," the Lashes run riot through the rock realm.
Cheap Trick inspires a clutch of numbers, but there are echoes of
so much else — the Clash, the Romantics, even Acid Eaters-era
Ramones, and the Cars are included.But as power pop-flecked and new
wave-ish as that all may suggest, the band never really sound retro.
Tight, exhilarating, edgy, and infectious, Get It has got
it all — a superb debut. |
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