Various, Typical Girls, Volume 2 (Emotional Response)
Compilations. “Comps”. They come with a higher risk/reward factor than your average long-player. Like soundtracks or anything filed under “V/A”, they can be a veritable goldmine: a place to unearth new aural treasure; discover heretofore uncharted styles and territories; find a new band worth obsessing over. For all they promise, though, comps are often fickle beasts. Lured in by the inclusion of new or unreleased tracks from old favorites, you often find more coal than diamond in the rest. Disillusioned, you create a playlist of the 3 or 4 good cuts and ignore the rest, cursing the heavens that you’ve been duped …again. [Ok, that was a bit melodramatic, but it’s the first day following a long weekend]
All of which makes Typical Girls, Volume 2 – named for The Slits’ song and presented by the Emotional Response label as a “global celebration of female fronted bands” – such a satisfying listen. Where the presence of tracks from bands including Flesh World, The World, Sex Stains and Cold Beat (this last a recent discovery) drew me in, what kept me hooked throughout was an impressively curated group of tracks showing a breadth of styles loosely grouped as ‘indie’, including post-punk, surf, punk, hardcore and straight up rock/roll. New discoveries that had me running to the interwebs for a back catalogue listening party include: the dizzying “Space is Bent” by Bent; the punk “La Bamba” of Midnight Snaxxx’s (yes, three exes) “No Time to Spend”; “Vallecas” by Juanita y los Feos, the now defunct – argh! – goth wave precursor to Rata Negra; the Wire-infused “Machine” from Naked Lights; the slinky mud-boogie of Soft Tug’s “Toys are Not for Children”; and the off the leash, old school hardcore of “Eat It“, by Patsy. While I can’t say that every track here is my new favorite, and should be yours, as well (and, gentle reader, you wouldn’t believe me even if I did), what I can say is that each of these 16 tracks has something great to discover. Explore.
Typical Girls, Volume 2, is available now from Emotional Response. Once you’re done purchasing that, take a look through the label’s impressive catalogue (new and back) on bandcamp. As for the bands, let your fingers do the walking.
