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Élan Vital  >>

Weeks on the road with the likes of Franz Ferdinand and Bloc Party certainly made an impression this Seattle quintet. On the follow-up to 2003's The New Romance, Pretty Girls Make Graves edge away from scratchy indie rock and embrace a more svelte, early '80s inspired post-punk sound. Much of it has to do with the addition of keyboardist Leona Marrs, whose economical melodies put electronics and retro dance grooves at the fore. Tracks like "Pyrite Pedestal" and "Domino" point the way forward, coming across like a hybrid of The Slits and The Fall. But the experimentation doesn't end there. Tracks like prog-ish "The Magic Hour" and punky-reggae "Selling the Wind" pull the band in more directions than it can always handle. Nobody said growing up is easy. --Aidin Vaziri

Good Health  >>

If you combined all of the prior musical experience of Seattle outfit Pretty Girls Make Graves into a single person, you'd have, well, a really old guy. The thing about it is, all that musicianship comes through, even though Pretty Girls Make Graves play the sort of bouncy, poppy, energetic not-quite-punk that isn't usually associated with stellar musicianship. The deceptively simple song construction and hooky melodies cover a startling truth: Pretty Girls Make Graves kick butt as musicians. That raises the level of their material from a bunch of pleasant songs to a collection of tight, ear-catching music that wouldn't have sounded out of place on the High Fidelity soundtrack. It's a little too pretty to be punk, a little too raw to be pop, and a little too elegantly constructed to be rock & roll. And that makes it just about perfect. --Genevieve Williams

The New Romance  >>

Pretty Girls Make Graves  >>

All Medicated Geniuses  >>

Taken from the 2003 album 'The New Romance'. The title track is backed with 3 non-album tracks 'C30 C60 C90 Go!' (Bow Wow Wow cover recorded live in Seattle at mRX), 'Magic Lights' & This Is Our Emergency' (video). Matador.

This Is Our Emergency  >>

Pretty Girls Make Graves  >>

Élan Vital  >>

Weeks on the road with the likes of Franz Ferdinand and Bloc Party certainly made an impression this Seattle quintet. On the follow-up to 2003's The New Romance, Pretty Girls Make Graves edge away from scratchy indie rock and embrace a more svelte, early '80s inspired post-punk sound. Much of it has to do with the addition of keyboardist Leona Marrs, whose economical melodies put electronics and retro dance grooves at the fore. Tracks like "Pyrite Pedestal" and "Domino" point the way forward, coming across like a hybrid of The Slits and The Fall. But the experimentation doesn't end there. Tracks like prog-ish "The Magic Hour" and punky-reggae "Selling the Wind" pull the band in more directions than it can always handle. Nobody said growing up is easy. --Aidin Vaziri

New Romance  >>

Japanese version featuring a bonus track

The New Romance  >>