Cults - Go Outside 7"

Before signing to Columbia this past November, New York implants Cults had only released a handful of songs, including the first offering from Forest Family Records and a contribution to the Adult Swim Singles Program.  The band is a polygamous marriage of Motown, '60s girl groups, and The Ramones circa 1980, falling somewhere between contemporary acts Tennis and The Asteroids Galaxy Tour.  Now their new label has eased the wait for their debut album with a reissue of their first single, "Go Outside" - a limited run of 1,000 pieces on white vinyl with a new b-side, a remix by The 2 Bears.  Since the main version of was released over a year ago, I'll concentrate on this reworking.

Slowed down from a bossa nova-ish shuffle to a tempo more suitable for head nodding, the remix begins with a gospel organ playing the main melody and a Jim James voiceover (get it? Cults!) before its only real misstep, an unnecessary and cliched "2 Bears Remix" shout-out.  A heavier beat with echoed snare/snaps and "Funky Drummer"-as-reinterpreted-by-Norman-Cook fills comes in while the band's trademark glockenspiel offers melodic accompaniment.  Gone is the original syncopated lumbering guitar/bass line; in its place are buried tremolo reverberations and a brief steel-drum-imitating guitar solo.  Singer Madeline Follin's vulnerable soprano remains amplified, soaring over the mix with a confidence mirrored in the lyrics ("I know what's good, exactly cause I have been there before.")  Additionally, 2 Bears have arranged "oh-way-oh" backing vocals which are accented by surprisingly fitting 'It Takes Two" 'Woo's.  

If the original mix evokes images of walking through a remote sunny meadow with a group of friends while sharing a joint and a Red Bull, this version moves to greater extremes on the drug continuum, Robitussin DM and MDMA.  Check out both the original and the remix below (Vevo might not allow me to embed the remix, so you may have to click on the link to view in YouTube).  

Dum Dum Girls Live at Johnny Brenda's 3/5/2011

Last night, clad in all-black vintage mini-skirts and their standard-issue hosiery, Sub Pop starlets Dum Dum Girls played a sold out show in Fishtown at Johnny Brenda's and managed to break a few hearts.

This was my first show at the bar/club and it may now be my favorite R5 venue in the city.  An oasis of amazing locally brewed beer in the middle of a dilapidated Girard Avenue neighborhood, JB's upstairs is an ideal place to see your favorite act - excellent sound system, intimate stage area, and a strikingly beautiful balcony where I decided to sit and watch, quite an anomaly for most places this small.  Highly recommended.
A parade of three opening acts each had several high points in their sets.  First was Dirty Beaches, née Alex Zhang Hungtai, who intermittently (and abrasively) sang and played guitar over prerecorded tracks and loops.  Obviously going for a Elvis/rockabilly vibe, he even paused several times to comb his pomaded hair, prompting catcalls and Arthur Fonzarelli "Eyyy!"s from the twenty percent capacity crowd.  Party Photographers were next.  The three piece band's frontwoman played bass and wore an oversized Wu-Tang C.R.E.A.M. t-shirt with tights.  After requesting "more reverb" during soundcheck, they played a handful of songs loaded with trebly walls of guitar and extremely minimal drums.  Their cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Rhiannon" was well-recieved.  Finally, Minks were the first "band" to play - complete with an actual drum kit, keyboard, bass, and two guitars, the five-piece band wailed on Cure-ish shoegazy pop songs.  Of the three opening acts, their songs were best translated in a live setting.

By 11:30 the place was full and the ladies finally took the stage, bringing an instant wave of energy over the crowd with their standby opener, a slow and deliberate cover of "Play With Fire" with four-part harmonies.  Next, they upped the tempo with "Hey Sis" and lead singer/guitarist Dee Dee Dum Dum broke into her signature knee-bending hip-gyrating shimmy.  Video of new song "He Gets Me High" from the new EP of the same title is below.  Ballad "Take Care of My Baby" sounds like it should be a cover of an iconic Skeeter Davis song.  Other highlights included unreleased song "Teardrops", which sounds like an amalgamation of the best parts of all of their faster songs with riveting vocal breakdowns, and their encore, a polarizing heart-on-sleeve cover of The Smith's "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out."
The band played all four songs from the new release and the three originals show amazing strides in songwriting that plays off of each member's strengths.  Drummer Sandra Vu plays with a hypnotic fluidity, and she hits the sparsely arranged drums incredibly hard.  Several drum parts in older songs, notably closer "Rest of Our Lives," have been rewritten to be less repetitive and they add a new dimension.  Bassist Bambi Dum Dum is the most stationary of the quartet, but she plays with restrained ferocity and stares icily into the crow as she sings high harmonies.  Lead guitarist Jules Dum Dum is always wearing a devilish, knowing smile as she plays solos, adds understated atmospheric guitar ornamentation, and sings low harmonies.
It's been a pleasure to see the progression of their live show from their opening slot with Girls a year ago, to their larger scale opening slot with Vampire Weekend this past summer, to now, their first headlining tour stop in Philly.  They are much more loose and confident, as seen in Dee Dee's more playful singing.  Hometown heroes Reading Ranbow were spotted in the crowd; at one point singer/drummer Sarah tweeted "@dumdumgirls aren't killing it, they are breathing life into everything! Luvvvvv."  Couldn't have put it better myself.