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GIRL CRUSH
Shining our spotlight on three girl groups of the moment
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After
years of being teased for our die-hard love of Alanis Morissette, we've
learned to keep our girl band crushes on the down low. But with a new
wave of decidedly cool (read: not at all whiney) lo-fi girl bands
popping up, we can now show off our love for the ladies without being
pegged as Lilith Fair groupies. Here are three new girl groups that
we're digging, minus the shamelust.
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Las Robertas:
We're really feeling this Costa Rican quartet. (In fact, we may be
feeling them too much - a coworker shot us a look of pure irritation as
we sang along to "Street Feelings" for the umpteenth time last week.) Though their sound is being compared to Vivian Girls, primarily because they're also an all girl group plucking from '80s post-punk
traditions, we think Las Robertas may be better positioned for
mainstream appeal. It seems like most music bloggers agree. Even
alt-guru Hipster Runoff
wrote, "Just heard Las Robertas, and I feel like they might be 'the
final piece' in commodifying the genre of 'female garage rock bands.'"
We agree that they could be "the final piece," but since they're
offering their entire freshman album for free, we're not so sure about the commodification part.
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Best Coast:
Normally, we hear about former child actresses once their memoirs
detailing their excessive drug use are published, but now a former show
biz kid is claiming our attention with her vocal chords. Born and
raised in LA, vocalist Bethany Cosentino got her start in the
entertainment industry as a commercial actress in spots for Little
Caesars and Pepsi. Now, she's now making impossibly fun lo-fi music as Best Coast. Tracks like "When I'm With You,"
which layers breathy-bratty vocals over static-saturated pop
instrumentals, have us - and we suspect various bloggers - lip-syncing
into our combs in front of the mirror. Though Best Coast's tunes
already have been featured in commercials for Skins, we (and supposedly Bill Murray) are still anticipating their debut album.
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Pearl Harbor:
Sometimes sisters fight over borrowing each other's clothes, and
sometimes they collaborate to create an awesome girl band. Piper and
Skylar Kaplan (22 and 15 years old, respectively) joined forces to
create songs like the hazy "Luv Goon" that Pitchfork praised as "amniotic murk" and caused the Los Angeles Times to call them
the "queens of LA's lo-fi scene." For us, their dream pop makes us feel
like we're 14 again, staying out late on the beach in an oversized
sweater while staring over a bonfire at our summer crush. The blonde
duo's first record, the Something About the Chapparals EP (Mexican Summer), has mustered up enough of a following for the sororal act that they'll be spending the summer touring with glo-fi granddaddy Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti.
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* References to products and services in trendcentral do not imply our endorsement, but rather are intended to provide objective insights into emerging trends and examples of those trends. trendcentral is published by The Intelligence Group, a trend research and consumer insights company focusing on youth culture. For more information on our services, or to subscribe to our syndicated Cassandra Report studies, please contact Alina Goncalves at 212-277-5299 or via email at agoncalves@intelg.com.
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