Be honest. Lately, the music scene has been a pool of pretty calm waters lately, and you’ve been dipping into your old collection for some feel-good nostalgia. Don’t lie, I’ve been doing it, too. Some Sunny Day Real Estate and Get Up Kids especially, because of recent re-banding and touring announcements. And that’s okay; nothing is wrong with a little pure blood recycling. 
If you’re Brody Dalle—who is now known as Brody Dalle-Homme, just to make this point clearer—must’ve been missing the same sounds of younger times. The signature Brody voice may be the front woman behind Spinnerette, but the impassioned, stick-it-and-DIY! powerhouse that all but carried the aesthetic of punk is still buried in the past.
The self-titled album cover may sum it up for the average listener before the music is even heard—it’s a girly adaptation of Queens of the Stone Age’s self-titled album. That’s clever husband and wife collaboration right there. Thankfully, in such a social media saturated community, it’s more likely you’ll hear a digital play before any album art exposure.
The first single, “Ghetto Love”, actually riffs off with some of that vocal grit we first were enamored by years ago. But the going-nowhere distortion and boring drumbeat lend no real excitement for a base. It’s friendly and catchy local radio play, graciously. And without stretching comparison, “Baptized By Fire” has to be Dalle’s sleepy version of any Shiny Toy Guns single. I suppose “Distorting A Code” was created as a syncopated ballad. It features a toned-down—and almost tone-deaf—vocal monotony, and piano.
“Sex Bomb” has both good and bad qualities. Obviously, it loses points by being titled “Sex Bomb”. And with lyrics like “Oh won’t you be my daddy/ please me daddy/ be my daddy, please/ I love you madly, sex bomb” I wonder if Tim Armstrong penned the intelligence of the Distillers’ hooks. Remove the lyrics, or at least fill them with Lorem Ipsum, and admittedly it’s a shaker. If you’re jonesing for some Courtney Love-esque rawness, or a female version of Dalle’s voice, this wouldn’t be the worst album ever to pick up. I just wonder if they were purposely trying to pay homage to the pop rocks era of 1993 or just wanted to be able to hit MTV again. Just be aware that Spinnerette’s self-proclaimed influences—Black Flag, Gunclub, My Bloody Valentine—would have said bands’ fans guffawing at any proclaimed resemblance.
Spinnerette is out now on Anthem Records.
Tracklisting:
01. Ghetto Love
02. All Babes Are Wolves
03. Cupid
04. Geeking
05. Baptized By Fire
06. A Spectral Suspension
07. Distorting A Code
08. Sex Bomb
09. Driving Song
10. Rebellious Palpitations
11. The Walking Dead
12. Impaler
13. A Prescription For Mankind
