Cheap Girls – Find Me a Drink Home
reviewed by : Jason Draper
Jason Draper is the bass player for the indie bands Lemuria and The Failures’ Union. He also Djs under the name Jason Kyle and is half of the DJ/promotion team which throws the very popular Transmission dance parties in Buffalo, New York.
released by Paper + Plastick on March 2009
data : 1st full length album . 11 tracks . 32:48 run time . www.vivacheapgirls.com
free download available at www.quoteunquoterecords.com
genre : 90s indie rock/alt-rock
It’s been years since I’ve gone to a show and been completely blown away by a band I have never heard before. This was the case this past summer when I saw Lansing, the Michigan based band, Cheap Girls. Citing influences such as The Lemonheads and Buffalo Tom, this trio brings back a time when “alt-rock” wasn’t a dirty word. After being a band for just over a year, they released their first full length Find Me a Drink Home on local Lansing labels Bermuda Mohawk and Los Diaper (CD and LP respectively). In March, a few short months after its initial release, Paper and Plastick will be re-releasing the album on a larger scale. The opening track, “Kind of on Purpose”, sets the mood for the album with lines such as, “I’m taking notes from those with it together.”, “Where did you go wrong?”, and “How did you make it right?” The album reads like a soundtrack for those who never found their place in high school but have since grown older, yet remain lost (largely aided by a sea of consumption). This may seem to be well-worn territory, especially in the self-deprecating alt-rock scene but vocalist/bassist Ian Graham’s lyrics are so well thought out and put together in a way that they never once come across as childish. This is the type of album that seems to grow better with each consecutive listen. I expect Cheap Girls to be the band everyone is talking about in the upcoming year.
recommended tracks : Stop Now, Parking Lot
if you like you might like : The Lemonheads, Smoking Popes, Buffalo Tom, Teenage
Fanclub, Guided By Voices
grade : overall 9 – music 9 – lyrics 9 – recording quality 7
from the February Issue of Auxiliary Magazine
