The Raveonettes: Whip It On

The garage rock revival has gotten so much press the last year that critics have had to invent the term
New Garage to keep track of bands like
The Strokes and
Yeah Yeah Yeahs. But before you decide to jump
off this already overhyped bandwagon and go searching for the next big thing you should definitely
check out The Raveonettes. The band consists of Sune Wagner (ex-Psyched Up Janis)
and Sharin Foo and according to
Rolling Stone's David Fricke they are:

"not only Denmark's hot gift to
the New Garage. They make tight blazing pop of the top order, the kind that can quickly become a
personal passion—and a radio phenomenon".

Earlier this year the Danish duo released the EP
Whip It
On, which is now available outside of Denmark,
and there has been a buzz surrounding the band ever since. The eight track EP clocks in at a hectic
21 minutes and combines the noise of
The Jesus and Mary Chain and the power of
The Ramones with cool
sounding melodies. Every song has a wall of fuzz-guitars and loud drums, but the thing that lifts the
songs is the blend of Wagner's dark voice with Foo's seductive harmonies. The duo usually sings in a
monotonous style with a lot of tight harmonies, which makes them stand out from the rest of the garage bands.
And when Sharin Foo sings in that breathy femme fatale-like voice in the chorus of Veronica Fever it'll make the hairs on your
arms stand up straight. Other highlights include opener Attack of the Ghost Riders (which sounds like
The Jesus and Mary Chain sprinkled with
Dick Dale guitars) and the anthem-like Cops on our Tail, which
will have you screaming Going Fast That's The Way We Go in no time. And the EP's closer Beat City
has tempo and badass lyrics, which will leave you wanting more. The only miss among the eight tracks is
Bowels of the Beast, which is a lot slower than the rest of the songs and sounds too much like
Black Sabbath.

The Raveonettes are
touring Scandinavia this fall with a one-off gig in
London in September and has
since the release of

Whip It On recorded three tracks with producer
Richard Gottherer (who produced
early
Blondie,
Richard Hell, and
The Go-Go's records), which will probably appear on a full length
album next year. But until then you'd be well-advised to check out this roaring debut from the
hottest Scandinavian act since
The Hives.
This is your shot at checking them out before they get huge.

Article Author: John Fogde

Visit John Fogde's author page — John Fogde's Blog