Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers Teenage and Torture
Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers is just one of those crazy bands who do crazy things, and not just musically. Band leader, Shilpa Ray, is known for her raunchy antics like, snorting cocaine off of the tombstone of Rick James, and with songs like "I'm Not Frigid ...Yet", where she sings about having crazy sex with some guy.
On the Brooklyn four-piece's second record, Teenage and Torture, their music doesn't skimp on that gritty sound that has become their trademark, which caught the attention of legends like Patti Smith and Nick Cave. What I've noticed is that music is lacking riot grrrl bands, ever since the demise of riot grrrl extraordinaries, Sleater-Kinney. Although much of the members of the Happy Hookers are men rather than a bunch of hookers, there are plenty of reasons why they should be classified as a riot grrrl band.
Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers
The whole album sounds rough, but in a good way. The instrumentation is great, more specifically Shilpa Ray's harmonium playing, on tracks like "Venus Shaver", "Dames A Dime A Dozen" and "Erotolepsy" which adds sort of an eerie effect to the songs. When one is first listening to the album, no doubt that bands such as the Cramps and Blondie will pop into mind as influences. Influences of Blondie is evident in the lead single, "Heaven In Stereo", where the guitar riff is reminiscent of "One Way or Another" and adds to Shilpa Ray's powerful vocals.
Teenage and Torture is a nice change of pace from the pop music coming from Brooklyn, however at times the band sounds too much like their heroes the Cramps, and you could call them Cramps cover band maybe.
0 comments:
Post a Comment