Girl Fight - 'She's a Killer'

“She’s a Killer.” Album title, opening track and first furious words. Detroit’s two piece

feminist punk band, GIRL FIGHT, have followed their 2018 debut EP, Fights Back, with 11 new

songs that spark and flare across 18 sweaty, spitty, minutes. She’s a Killer is here to use your

hair as handlebars, your stomach as a footrest and your ears as a funnel for whatever Ellen

Cope and Jacob Boyle are seething about today. You’re gonna like it.

The opening title track, is a tantrum. As is the following the song, and the song after that.

Every song on She’s A Killer is a gleeful airing of grievances. As Cope explains on “Ladder”

they “will break through your ceiling” but when they do, they will “do it with feeling.” The dullard

drum work will tell you when to stomp and when to jump because GIRL FIGHT are as inclusive as

they are aggressive. Even better, by the time most of these songs hit their halfway point the

band has usually picked a refrain or two so listeners can spazz along. “All you see in my is fear”

on the song of the same name. “I am my god” also on the song of a similar name. There are no

wrong choices.

The album is at its best when stepping away from what eventually becomes the

expected. The entirety of the song “White Girl is a perfect example and when Cope and Boyle

begin trading lines, first on “New Noise”, and then again on the impossibly infectious closer

“Out” their energy becomes exponential and it all feels that much more urgent. Even smaller

moments, like the sunken guitar EQ on “All You See in Me is Fear” or the strobbed noise solo

on the title track prove to be the kind of subtle tweaks that elevate these songs from the herd.

Though it may not be the first thing to grab your attention, the instrumentation here

should not be ignored. It is, in technical terms, dumb as hell. Cope’s drums sound like the guy in

the back of the pizza shop stomping boxes flat. If the knobs on Boyle's distortion aren’t turned

all the way to the right, I can’t tell. The music here is beyond simple. It’s also incredibly effective.

If these songs featured any more than three chords, they’d probably be half as good. GIRL FIGHT

might just be the first Detroit based boy/girl two piece to actually have the courage of its

professed minimalist convictions. As they proclaim, with what sounds more like a smile than a

sneer on “Out”, GIRL FIGHT are without a doubt, “walking the right way.”

To you Pittsburgh folks out there, GIRL FIGHT is set to play Air Studio on February 23. 

Follow Girl Fight

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Writen by Jake Rzeppa (@getoldordietrying)

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Gentle Ivanhoe Death Skulls - 'Beaches'

In the spirit of full disclosure you should know now: this album is called Beaches. Yeah, I
know. But hang on, this isn’t a “surf punk” record. Not even close. Put down that Dads reference and stamp out that five panel hat you lit on fire. We may have all once said “If You’re Song Has ‘Beach’ in the Title, I’m Not Listening” but maybe it’s time to let old wounds (and reverb damaged ears) heal. Gentle Ivanhoe Death Skulls finally have a debut and it’s only here to help, I promise.

The album introduces itself with the excellent, “Green Hang Ten”, a song that first saw release
online as a single in late 2017. “Hang Ten” rolls in on smokescreen synths and with a kinetic bassline in the driver seat. It’s dancey and just a little distant at the start and remains that way until arriving at its blissfully abrupt conclusion. It’s an opener that is both on trend and out of time; a combination that conjures atmosphere and finds the Death Skulls’ sharing a channel with the likes of Cleaners From Venus and fellow Swedes, The Radio Dept.

Where “Green Hang Ten” shines as the ear catching opener, its successor, “Heavyweight”,
rushes in to assure listeners that Death Skulls are not the kind of band to occupy any lane too long.
“Heavyweight” brings listeners back to earth with sketchy guitars and rubber stomp rhythms before the euphoric “Hairdresser” launches them back up, sky high. In fact, the latter track features a synth line so sunny it could have been lifted from the lush desktop meadows of James Ferraro's “Far Side Virtual”. It became clear, through the lofi twee of the title track to album’s midpoint, “A Clubber Lang Fan” that “Hang Ten” was only the beginning of a hot streak.

Beaches' success comes not just from its commitment to variation but also it’s knowing how to wrap a good track fast. The band sets up one song after the other, never lingering or allowing an idea to feel less than fresh. While this approach renders the second half of the record slightly anonymous, it’s likely a result of the streaming format rather than a failure of songwriting. Beaches is an album that would probably benefit from being heard in a more traditional “side A/ side b” structure. Unfortunately in the age of streaming, the highly concentrated sugar of Beaches can lose flavor after an unbroken half hour.

Gentle Ivanhoe Death Skulls is not a band without peers. In general terms they have much in
common with bigger groups such as Tycho and Hoops. However, what distinguishes Gentle Ivanhoe Death Skulls, besides their very long name, is a total lack of lethargy. The band approaches their songs with a high energy and enthusiasm that feels uncommon in a modern dream pop act. Unsatisfied to simply borrow the textures and cassette pastiche of past decades, Death Skulls are mindful enough to include the danceable “Happy Sad” songcraft that was the trademark of 80’s alternative. It makes for a listening experience that is feels at home in the bedroom, the bar and even, yeah, the beach.

Follow Gentle Ivanhoe Death Skulls

Instagram | Vimeo | Bandcamp




Writen by Jake Rzeppa (@getoldordietrying)

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