Saturday, November 19, 2011

Wild Flag: The Blood Between

We're in the money! - "Racehorse"
The verdict is in: Wild Flag's debut is a corker, easily one of the best guitar albums of the year so far. Slathered together with dirty riffs and scuffed up rhythms, the gals from Sleater-Kinney, Helium & the Minders have concocted a glorious soundtrack for our fetid times.



Imagine Pegasus as a bucking bronco. That's Wild Flag. The songs leap through the morass and spit you out like a pinball in a roller derby. Vocalist Carrie Brownstein is in righteous form, calling to mind both Patti Smith's utopian howl and Geraldine Fibber Carla Bozulich's surly growl. Then the backing vocals on songs like "Endless Talk" bleed through channeling the Go-Gos by way of the Pipettes.


Drummer Janet "Flintstone" Weiss flails like a stonemason from Bedrock, while Rebecca Cole screws in the bass keys and Mary Timony lights up the riffs and vocals. This is a flag music, Black Flag and Pink Flag, merging into a wild cacophony of form and pleasure....and I'm thrilled to be along for the ride.


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