Pretty Girls Make Graves - Good Health

Punk – in its days before mall glamorization and the prefix of pop, at least – has always aimed to be the exception of the musical scene and its predicted harmony. It’s been suicidal and perilous when popular culture glorified submissive and docile music in its traditional ‘70s days. It’s been energetic and spastic when indie gurus were championing stoic performances from the likes of Pavement and Modest Mouse in the early ‘90s. And it’s simply been dedicated to clashing and dismantling pop pretenses since its inception. But if punk’s been the deliberate antagonist to all preconceived notions, I suppose the opposite should be, well, expected. With irony at its finest, Pretty Girls Make Graves contort the ex-members’ pedigree of the dismal punk flavor of Murder City Devils and the heavy handed hardcore of Kill Sadie to form a much different, upbeat outfit than its precursors. Although the punk ethic is staking its claim around Pretty Girls Make Graves’ incipient full-length, Good Health, these West Coasters opt for an album brimming with sleek and spiky guitars, playful and exuberant female vocals and meandering drizzles of keyboard – un-punk characteristics in a punk born band. “Speakers Push the Air” even opens the disc with an organ ascension that quickly saunters into a full fledged gallop of thumping bass and dance inducing rhythms. It’s punk music just, well, not. Good Health may exercise its musical muscles in only 27 minutes, but Pretty Girls Make Graves maximize this opportunity by injecting energy and a Pixies-esque dichotomy of guitar abrasions and catchy pop hooks into the recent musical climate. While it may not be the descendent of supreme originality, Good Health is shedding punk’s easily detectable outer shell and mingling it with fun festering tunes of all kinds to conclude with an album awash in good music. Even if it’s at the price of punk nihilism, that’s a trade I’ll happily make. [www.prettygirlsmakegraves.com]