Vivian Girls

This all-girl rock trio delivers jangly guitars and driving beats that sound like they were recorded in someone’s basement.

Destined to become a cult favorite, the Brooklyn-based all-gal rock trio Vivian Girls may remain just that. With jangly guitars and driving beats that sound like they were recorded in someone’s basement (on a four-track, in 1972), it’s hard to imagine this self-titled debut enticing the mainstream, though the DIY recording quality was surely a conscious decision. The album simply serves as enticement to see the Girls live, since raw energy like this can’t properly translate to tape anyway. Even the vocal tracks are jarring, fast, and full of air, with a simple, sustained soprano melody floating, disconnected, above spastic drums and crunchy guitar. The band’s MySpace headline reads, “Human Subway Cars,” and that’s exactly what the Girls are—noisy, loose, and fast; clanging, dirty, and on the verge of barreling out of control.