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Can poon tang truly write and record good music? Yes.
The above is the tone most reviews have taken with the bangs second album. As music written and performed by women gets let out to world every couple years as "the year of the woman" takes place in the media, who are surprised to still finding women making interesting music. My rant now out of the way, I will get on with the review.
One listen to the Bang's first album, Tiger Beat, hints at what they are capable of... writing great punk rock songs, which they do on Sweet Revenge. While the first album is a somewhat uneven affair, Sweet Revenge is the most solid album released this year. After a billion listenings I can't find a clunker on it. Besides the amazing improvement songwriting the biggest surprise is bassist Maggie Vail's lead vocals on the album. Delivering killer lines ("you're dumber than you look") in songs like "Fast, Easy Love", "Sweet Revenge", and "Docudrama" shows yet another weapon in the band's aresenal. This is not to downplay Sarah Utter(guitar/vocals) contributions. She sings the standout, hands down best song on the ablum, "Undo Everything"; a power ballad for nineties punk rock. When I saw them live in May the lighters were rightfully in the air during that one.
Okay, this ablum is about three months old but you wouldn't know by checking out my cd player. This disc has not left my player since I got it. In just under 35 minutes the Bangs have produced a punk rock classic on par with such modern punk lumenaries Rancid, Bikini Kill, and BSF. You cannot fuck with this record. Period.
46 out of 47 trees polled about this records did not respond to the question, "Does the Bangs new record make you wanna leave"; One told me to "piss off wanker." Bad jokes are my bread and butter folks.
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