Dum Dum Girls

After building a ravenous following with a handful of limited edition singles and EPs, it was only a matter of time before Dee Dee took her Dum Dum Girls to the next level to meet the demand. Signing to Sub Pop, it was no secret that the band's heavily concentrated feedback and hissy production (self-coined as "blissed out buzz saw") would yield to a cleaner sound for their debut album. Hiring legendary hit maker/producer Richard Gottherer (Blondie, Raveonettes) to bring out the band's melodic side, I Will Be may ease up on the noise, but it does so only to show that Dum Dum Girls' have real songs hiding underneath. Unlike Vivian Girls, who're often disregarded for their emotional detachment and sameness, Dee Dee's songs are perfect lovesick jingles about teenage innocence driven by pounding backbeats and muddy, reverb-soaked guitar chimes. While you can argue that the hooks aren't as plentiful as peers like Wavves or Best Coast, Dee Dee has an effortless, dead cool songwriting style that's as much in debt to more underground influences like rockabilly ("I Will Be") as it is to blatant ones like girl groups ("Jail La La") and Black Tambourine ("Bhang Bhang, I'm A Burnout"). I Will Be may present Dum Dum Girls' sound as a little less buzz saw, but every inch of it is still gorgeously blissed out.