MUSIC REVIEW - Those Darlins

Those Darlins – Those Darlins
2009
Thirty Tigers

Those Darlins are a three-piece all girl band that takes the best of garage, pop, and alt-country, puts them in a blender, then throws that away and plays whatever they damn well feel like, thank you very much. Every song is filled with the catchy, simple songwriting that is the hallmark of any great garage album, but they up the ante with some seriously fun lyrics and twangy-harmonizing. Take the refrain from ‘The Whole Damn Thing’, my 2nd favorite song on the album:

“I got drunk and I ate a chicken/
I ate a chicken I found in my kitchen/
Not just the leg and not just a wing/
I’d-like-to-let-you-know I ate the whole damn thing!”

If you’re thinking to yourself, ‘that sounds stupid,’ then congratulations! You just passed the Pretentious Jerknozzle Test. Because you are a pretentious jerknozzle. Everybody else will listen to that song and be powerless against it. They will sing it for the rest of the day and be able to enjoy life it’s fullest.

Any fan of old-school garage rock, rockabilly, or alt-country will treasure this album. It’s filled with wit and heart - there isn’t a bad song on it, and of the 12 tracks, I found a whopping EIGHT to be highly memorable: ‘Red Light Love’ (great single, see link below), ‘Wild One’, ‘Hung Up On Me’ (the pun-iest of the lot, which is saying something) , ‘The Whole Damn Thing’, ‘Who’s That Knocking At My Window’, ‘Snaggle Tooth Mama’ (surprise piano and sax bit I adore), ‘222’ (catchy as hell, accordion makes it), AND ‘Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy’ (a song that sounds like a bit of a throwback that plays out the album).

Give the album a listen. I love it, I play it all the way through each time I start it up. It’s not pop, it’s not synthesizers, it’s not indie – it’s just simple, good rock with a Tennessee twinge that makes you want to drink whiskey and party.

Will I play it on my show? Every last song. RIYL – Joan Jett, the O’ Brother Where Art Thou? soundtrack.
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Red Light Love music video
Their Myspace page