A female-led indie-punk trio from Olympia -- who perhaps not coincidentally have the exact same name a certain Los Angeles girl group from the early '80s used until they decided to lengthen it to
the Bangles -- the Bangs are less noisy than
Bratmobile and more rocking than
Beat Happening, to compare them to their scene compadres (or less sweet than
Cub and less subversively poppy than
the Muffs, to expand the comparisons). The closest comparison is probably
Sleater-Kinney, but the Bangs have a more visceral, aggressive sound that at times -- especially on the twin anthems "Burnout," and "Death by Guitar" -- recalls the metal-tinged punky pop of late-'80s
Redd Kross and
Pandoras records. The album's main flaw is Scott Swayze's ultra-muddy production, which, on songs like the bizarrely-titled "Lend Me Crumpets" moves well beyond lo-fi D.I.Y. into willful amateurishness. The songs, which have the urgency and bite-me attitude of the Olympia scene, deserve better than that. ~ Stewart Mason