The Riff Randells
Doublecross
Dirtnap
The boys may have a monopoly on rockabilly, but they can’t touch the girl group sound of the ’60s. It belongs to the girls, and thank the Goddess some ladies out there have been channeling their inner sock-hopper and reinventing the legacy of bands like The Shangri-Las and The Ronettes for a new generation of listeners.
The Riff Randells, from Canada, sound about as authentic as can be – if Mary Weiss and those other tough chicks from yesteryear had plugged in and really upped the ante. Like my beloved Gore Gore Girls, this trio from Up North have given me yet another disc to wear into the ground. Doublecross is a sock-hop in the midst of mid ’80s L.A. The Go-Go’s could party there, and The Runaways could have been the house band. The sound they’ve cultivated is what The Donnas have been trying to achieve for years.
Joining in the canon of he’s bad/but I love him/ but I don’t need him songs: “Traitor of the Heart,” “When He Looks At Me” and “Nothing Without Me.”
Forgive the simplicity of this comment, but these girls are just awesome!!!
Dirtnap Records: http://www.dirtnaprecs.com
