L7 : Releases >>
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Bricks Are Heavy >>
Somewhat poppier than their previous album, Bricks Are Heavy still features the abrasive guitar riffs and punk inflections that gained L7 their following. "Pretend We're Dead" was the major hit from this album, and is the most commercial song of the lot; songs like "Wargasm", "Everglade", and "Slide" are aggressive, roaring rockers. While "Diet Pill" and "This Ain't Pleasure" emphasize the group's feminist slant, this takes a backseat to their music, which is the main reason to pick up this album. L7 isn't women who play rock and roll; it's a rock and roll band that happens to be made up of women. --Genevieve Williams
Beauty Process:Triple... >>
Still getting a visceral kick from the simple thrill of hearing their own amplified voices on tape, the members of L7 kick off their fifth album with a mike check-"Yo! Hello! Hey!"-followed by two ear-shattering screams. The Los Angeles quartet has always had a hard time being heard for exactly what they are: a great punk-metal band, as opposed to a great female punk-metal band. But the group doesn't waste any more time making that point on The Beauty Process: Triple Platinum than it has on its previous four albums, choosing instead to get right to the business of making your eardrums ring. L7 suffered a key defection before this album when bassist/vocalist Jennifer Finch quit, frustrated perhaps by a decade of hard touring that has won a cult following and not much more. But guitarists/vocalists Donita Sparks and Suzi Gardner rose to the occasion with producer Rob Cavallo (Green Day, the Muffs). They tip the balance a bit more toward the metal end of the spectrum in terms of stomping rhythms and slower tempos (though not extraneous guitar solos), while excluding none of their usual so-stupid-they're-brilliant Ramones-style hooks. The subject matter will be familiar to fans: Sparks and Gardner bitch about loser boyfriends and other "Bad Things," celebrate their status as bad girls by jumping "Off the Wagon," show their romantic streak on the touching '50s-style "Moonshine," and paraphrase the voracious Iggy Poo on "I Need" and "Must Have More." Sadly neglected in a pop landscape dominated by lightweights like Alanis Morrisette and Sheryl Crow, L7 can be forgiven for being bitter and questioning the IQ of the populace at large with a song called "The Masses Are Asses," especially because the moment is a fleeting one. Ultimately, the band is about partying hard and rocking yourself silly, and it's your loss if you decline their invitation. Jim Derogatis
Slap-Happy >>
L7 : L7 >>
Off the Wagon >>
Hungry for Stink >>
The L.A. quartet was already way up in the grrl pantheon when this disc put them over the top. "Hungry for Stink" delivers a primitive, sludgy, and pissed-off sound, but listen closer for the sonic invention on tracks like "Shirley, She Has Eyes" and "Riding With the Movie Star." --Jeff Bateman
Live: Omaha to Osaka >>
Slap-Happy >>
L7 are arguably the most important female hard-rock group ever, and with Slap-Happy, the band's seventh disc in 11 years, Donita Sparks, Suzi Gardner, and Dee Plakas show exactly why this is the case. Pounding out huge riffs with evil intensity and shrewd humor, the women of L7 practice the art of rock with a subtle intelligence that keeps their music from slipping into self-parody. On loud, boisterous songs like "Mantra Down" and "War With You," L7's notorious punk-metal roots are exposed to full, breakneck effect. With Sparks and Gardner trading vocals and meat-cleaver guitar breaks while Plakas beats the holy hell out of the drums, L7 transcend all preconceptions of gender-specific behavior and rock more aggressively than most male-led groups you're apt to mention. --Mitch Myers
Smell the Magic >>
Après un bref passage sur le cultissime label Epitaph, le carré féminin L7 se pose chez le chantre du grunge Sub Pop. Passablement énervé, ce groupe de choc très influencé par l'esprit punk des Sex Pistols et des Ramones n'avait guère d'équivalent lorsqu'il enregistra le bouillonnant Smell The Magic en 1990, et certainement pas plus le hard des Runaways que de Suzi Quatro. "Fast And Frightning", un de ses morceaux, et ses riffs d'enfer qui ont de quoi clouer KO debout, a influencé le groupe de Courtney Love, Hole, comme Babes In Toyland. Deux ans plus tard, L7 réalisera son premier véritable album (celui-ci est en fait un mini-LP, format qu'affectionnait particulièrement Sub Pop) sous la houlette du producteur Butch Vig à qui l'on doit "l'habillage" du Nevermind de Nirvana. Extrême, le punk rock de L7 annonce la vague des riot girls et l'énergie rentre-dedans de Bikini Kill. -- Hervé Comte
Bricks Are Heavy >>
Somewhat poppier than their previous album, Bricks Are Heavy still features the abrasive guitar riffs and punk inflections that gained L7 their following. "Pretend We're Dead" was the major hit from this album, and is the most commercial song of the lot; songs like "Wargasm", "Everglade", and "Slide" are aggressive, roaring rockers. While "Diet Pill" and "This Ain't Pleasure" emphasize the group's feminist slant, this takes a backseat to their music, which is the main reason to pick up this album. L7 isn't women who play rock and roll; it's a rock and roll band that happens to be made up of women. --Genevieve Williams