Girl Band: Holding Hands with Jamie (Rough Trade)

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Girl Band: Baloo
Girl Band: Holding Hands with Jamie (Rough Trade)

Here's how you subvert expectation.

Call yourself Girl Band and give your debut album a cute title like Holding Hands With James . . . then deliver atonal noisecore, aggressive thrash and declamatory lyrics over lo-fi sonics.

This all-male Dublin four-piece might have emerged in the post-punks days alongside The Fall, Chrome, Pere Ubu and clank'n'grind experimentalists, but here they are bringing their challenging but always surprising sound to the 21st century.

Some still might not be ready for these nine scouring non-pop pieces in 39 bruising minutes, but -- like the Pop Group, Rip Rig and Panic and others back in the thrilling post-punk days -- they are impossible to ignore.

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Keith Shackleton - Sep 29, 2015

Oi, turn it down over there, I'm tryna get some sleep!

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