Spinnerette – Spinnerette

Album Reviews • Tuesday May 19th, 2009 • 2:46 pm

A couple months ago I practically went apeshit over Spinnerette’s four-song Ghetto Love EP. As a long-time fan of Brody Dalle it was exciting to see the direction she was taking with her new band, and more so refreshing to hear punk music get a creative kick. While that EP acted as a preview of their full-length debut, it set the bar even higher for Dalle to deliver after a several year hiatus. Taking how refreshing and hard-hitting Ghetto Love was, it wouldn’t have taken much to be letdown when the band finally dropped a full-length release. Thankfully that is not the case here. Dalle has done more than delivered with Spinnerette’s debut. This is a punk-rock monster of an album.

Much like the EP, the Spinnerette album finds Brody Dalle deconstructing her traditional punk roots and introducing a gamut of sounds into her repertoire. She has matured and evolved in all aspects of the music creation process. In reference to her former band, this is not The Distillers redefined. The band Spinnerette represents a new Dalle for a new listener in a new age.

“Ghetto Love” returns on here and is just as venomous as when I first heard it. This lead off song establishes the desert rock element of the album with its calculated guitar and bass. Combined with Dalle’s bleeding heart vocals these are the essentials that hold the album together as it injects different elements into each track there after. For instance “All Babes are Wolves” starts with an 80’s pop punk feel, and the dark love tale “Cupid” features some heavy 90’s alternative sounds.

“Baptized by Fire” is the song for mass appeal. Featuring everything from Dalle’s passionate harmonizing and lyrics, to the building rhythm that erupts in a synth heavy beat. The track plays equally to the rock crowd and to those on the dance floor. It best utilizes the versatility that is displayed throughout the album. Another element revved up now is Dalle’s sex appeal, which is none more clear than on “Sex Bomb.” Cock-rocked out Dalle growls, “I want a daddy to tell me what to do. Won’t you be my daddy? Please me Daddy.” Elsewhere, she can even sex up a line like “I’ll take your head off tonight,” on “Impaler.”

Spinnerette is Brody Dalle’s vehicle. For this self-titled release she is joined by fellow former Distiller Tony Bevilacqua, Alain Johannes of Queens of the Stone Age (who also produced), and Jack Irons of Red Hot Chili Peppers and Pearl Jam. Dalle has recently lead on that going forward the band will feature a revolving door of musicians to back her up. In every essence this is her band and her album.

The album closes with the metal meets shoegaze “A Prescription for Mankind” where Dalle asks, “Who are you? Gonna teach me the lessons of life?” In the end it is us that have been taught a lesson. We have seen Dalle take an immense step in artistic growth. At the time of the Distillers disbandment she had teetered on the brink of becoming a well-rounded powerhouse artist. That artist has finally been unleashed. This album is more than a mere musical success for Brody Dalle; it is a milestone in her artistic life. “Should I kneel down and pray, kneel down and kiss the divine?” she sings. At this point Ms. Dalle you kneel down to no one.

Tagged as: desert rock, Los Angeles, Punk