pretty girls make graves : Releases >>
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The New Romance >>
On The New Romance, Pretty Girls Make Graves deliver a spiky form of post-punk indie rock intended to confound expectations. Continually breaking any groove they create, they rely on the jerky, piercing, intertwining guitars of Nathan Thelen and J Clark to snake their way into your consciousness. It doesn't really work--too often the music seems directionless and self-consciously arty. Of course, strong melodies might have saved the day, as they have with many of PGMG's north-western predecessors, but it's in this department that the band are most severely lacking, with only "Holy Names", "All Medicated Geniuses" and "A Certain Cemetery" being remotely memorable.
Indeed, the band only really impress with the juddering, piano-heavy pop rock of the closing "A Certain Cemetery", the only time they seem confident and conjure true spiritual power. Until that point you get the feeling that though they all want to be in a band they're not sure which one. The thought that Pretty Girls Make Graves feature an ex-member of Murder City Devils is naturally exciting--MCD were, after all, Seattle's finest export since the grunge revolution. Unfortunately, the member concerned is neither singer Spencer Moody nor keyboardist Leslie Hardy but bassist Derek Fudesco and PGMG are a world away from his illustrious former outfit. --Dominic Wills
Good Health >>
A welcome reissue of this Seattle band's LookoutRecords debut, Good Healthcaptures Pretty Girls Make Graves before their music took on the pseudy, slightly muddled edge that made 2003's The New Romancea minor disappointment. Balanced neatly on the precipice between purge-and-vent emotion and post-hardcore complexity, PGMG ride a similar dynamic to Washington DC's Fugazi, forever ricocheting between moments of passionate excess and stoic experimentation, but always pulling back from the brink of each extreme.
The album peaks early - well, immediately, if we're honest - with the fantastic "Speakers Push The Air", a pleasingly straightforward hymn to the life-altering properties of rock music, pouting lead singer Andrea Zollo hurling the words "And nothing else matters when I turn it up loud!" with sheer adolescent joy. There's much good besides, though: "3 Away" imagines Bikini Kill if they had the chops to match the polemic, while "The Getaway" - the tale of a teenage runaway - adds a tender edge to Pretty Girls' rather hard visage. Even if you were turned off by the follow-up, Good Health is well worth picking up. --Louis Pattison
Elan Vital >>
This Is Our Emergency >>
The New Romance [VINYL] >>
On The New Romance, Pretty Girls Make Graves deliver a spiky form of post-punk indie rock intended to confound expectations. Continually breaking any groove they create, they rely on the jerky, piercing, intertwining guitars of Nathan Thelen and J Clark to snake their way into your consciousness. It doesn't really work--too often the music seems directionless and self-consciously arty. Of course, strong melodies might have saved the day, as they have with many of PGMG's north-western predecessors, but it's in this department that the band are most severely lacking, with only "Holy Names", "All Medicated Geniuses" and "A Certain Cemetery" being remotely memorable.
Indeed, the band only really impress with the juddering, piano-heavy pop rock of the closing "A Certain Cemetery", the only time they seem confident and conjure true spiritual power. Until that point you get the feeling that though they all want to be in a band they're not sure which one. The thought that Pretty Girls Make Graves feature an ex-member of Murder City Devils is naturally exciting--MCD were, after all, Seattle's finest export since the grunge revolution. Unfortunately, the member concerned is neither singer Spencer Moody nor keyboardist Leslie Hardy but bassist Derek Fudesco and PGMG are a world away from his illustrious former outfit. --Dominic Wills
Speakers Push the Air [7" VINYL] >>
This Is Our Emergency [7" VINYL] >>
Elan Vital [VINYL] >>
All Medicated Geniuses [7" VINYL] >>
New Romance (+1 Bonus Track) Import Japan >>