Vally Girls

If you like The White Stripes and/or The Black Keys (though apparently they hate each other) there is no reason for you not to check out Deap Vally. What sets them apart from the one-guitar-one-drummer schtick is that they are both ladies. Usually when I hear about a band I go over to AllMusic to read about them; when I got to the line about forming an image around halter tops and short-jeans-shorts I was pretty much sold. Couple that with the story that guitarist Lindsey Troy met drummer Julie Edwards in what is a total rocknroll move: a crocheting class the latter was teaching.

The released an EP called Get Deap! and followed it with an LP called Sistrionix. The EP contains one song that did not make the LP.

What's the music like? It rocks. It's sleazy, it's scuzzy, all those adjectives used to describe rock at it's most primal. Or at it's most elemental, primitive. The song titles reflect that: "Gonna Make My Own Money," "Baby I Call Hell," "Walk Of Shame," "Bad For My Body," and "Woman of Intention" stand out. it isn't earth shattering, it isn't particularly new sounding. They don't jerk off on the guitar like Jack White does, they aren't perhaps the most technically proficient. But they do riff and they lay down a clobber of a beat. There are no plaintive acoustic numbers. There is a George Jones talking bit in side 2 opener "Lies" where they say things like "I thought we agreed/You wouldn't have the need to spread your seed." OK.

A bass player wouldn't hurt but whatever. I enjoy the record. It goes by quickly, which is in now way a bad thing. It isn't the worst of all things: boring. It's fun. I imagine they'd be a trip to see live. This is another band that should be getting played on Little Steven's Underground Garage. I often say they should swap their 3:1 old/new ratio.

Here's the quoted "Lies." Enjoy!