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Girls – “Hellhole Ratrace”

Tue. March 25th, 2008


girls

Christopher Owens + Chet JR White are new San Francisco duo Girls. The boys would like to “to conjure up auditory memories of listening to a Beach Boys song out of an old car speaker,” and their beautiful lo-fi pop actually comes pretty close to that. This is some of the most starkly honest and affecting stuff I’ve heard in a while, like a more relatable, hopelessly romantic version of Ariel Pink (related side note: Owens also plays in Holy Shit). The four songs over at their myspace page are all worth your time, but the sincere longing and sort of sad hopefulness they convey on these two gems is what won me over (thanks to Jennifer for the tip):

mp3:
girls :: hellhole ratrace
girls :: god damned

Girls’ limited Hellhole Ratrace 7″ is due this spring on True Panther Sounds. The first 100 copies allegedly come with custom corsages, so get on it early. Girls also expect to have a full-length out this summer, and will play the French MIDI Festival in July.

posted by: Chris @ 10:00 am
  • 23 Hollers

23 Hollers

  1. Anonymous | Posted at 11:51AM, Mar 25th

    They sound like Elvis Costello demos – circa 1978-80.

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  2. Dwight | Posted at 11:58AM, Mar 25th

    Sucks. Boring as shit.

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  3. Anonymous | Posted at 12:10PM, Mar 25th

    I disagree with Dwight from Yahoo.

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  4. doof | Posted at 12:10PM, Mar 25th

    that’s what i thought about your demo you sent me dwight

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  5. Anonymous | Posted at 1:13PM, Mar 25th

    girls rule

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  6. Richie | Posted at 1:39PM, Mar 25th

    They should do a tour with that other new duo ‘MEN’ featuring two of the women from Le Tigre.

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  7. clabshed | Posted at 2:24PM, Mar 25th

    less elvis costello and more New Morning-era Dylan. “The Man in Me” comes to mind a bit.

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  8. Anonymous | Posted at 3:33PM, Mar 25th

    Nah – his vocal style and chord changes are straight up Costello rip. Not even trying to disguise it.

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  9. me | Posted at 9:06PM, Mar 25th

    hellhole rat race blew my mind. brilliant… words… jingley bells… and then when it swells all kevin shieldsy like half way through…
    …and though i hear the costello comparison it doesn’t hold true if you listen to all the songs they have up on their myspace page so i’m not sure if it’s at all intentional.

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  10. cherry | Posted at 10:38PM, Mar 25th

    yeah, “hellhole rat” race is kind of amazing. fantastic find, Chris.

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  11. Anonymous | Posted at 3:03PM, Mar 26th

    they are also playing Awesome Fest
    April 18th at the Arena Theater in Point Arena CA (two and a half hours north of SF)…

    brownpapertickets.com/event/31695

    also playing:
    Willowz, Adam Stephens from Two Gallants, Golden Animals, Chief (NYC), Port OBrien, Bellavista (formerly The Vue), The Morning Benders and Thee Oh Sees…

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  12. Anonymous | Posted at 3:08PM, Apr 2nd

    Where’s the shout out to Elvis Costello??? that back of the throat nasal melancholic drawl is straight out of EC

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  13. Anonymous | Posted at 1:40PM, Apr 7th

    Yes, his voice sounds like EC’s. So what? I found ‘hellhouse ratrace’ hypnotic and sadly sweet. Good post!

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  18. Anonymous | Posted at 8:45PM, Mar 5th

    ^^ nice blog!! ^@^

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  19. Anonymous | Posted at 8:46PM, Mar 5th

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  22. Anonymous | Posted at 3:00AM, Mar 24th

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  23. Martin | Posted at 2:44PM, Jun 22nd

    Just heard about these guys, don't they know there are already several bands with albums out (since 2005) with that same name? for example: http://www.myspace.com/thegirls

    and these guys go way back:
    http://www.myspace.com/thegirlsseattle

    Why bother keeping such a generic name that's already been taken several times over? Hope they find out about google someday….

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