Death Valley Girls, Darkness Rains

When I'm listing to the radio I'll often note down bands that prick my ear, a couple of years ago whilst listing to Iggy's 6 Music show I jotted down the 'Death Valley Girls' and, as is too often my way, forgot about them. Then recently I came across a performance of theirs on KEXP (always worth checking out), and promptly ordered 'Darkness Rains' their 2018 album...that's me all over, always late to the party.  And wow, what a fantastic album, currently to be found spinning on my platter with great frequency. Death Valley Girls have a fabulous sound, reminiscent of when elements of the emerging punk scene met experimental rockers in the mid late 70's with some finding mutually fruitful ground, the proto-punk types, essentially it's quality rock and roll with a really nice punk atheistic running through it, and a sprinkling of psychedelia for good measure...I love it! It also reminds me, energy wise, of some the late 70's to early 90's Free Festival bands, there's that immediacy that's synonymous with the best of punk rock and DIY festy music. With the powerful rhythm section of Laura Harris on drums and Alana Amram on bass/vocals setting a solidly heavy foundation, the short punchy tracks really thunder along, their energy bursts right out of your speakers. It's an uplifting energy too. Larry Schemel's guitar is appropriately fuzzy and dirty, outstanding work, which jabs out at you demanding attention. And then there's Bonnie Bloomgarden's vocals, and well, man, she has a voice made for a band and songs like these, just frickin perfect. I find Bonnie's voice so engaging, and she's no slouch on guitar and organ either.  A classic four piece, well yeah, to a point. That's the core line up of the Death Valley Girls, but, man, there were so many others participating on this album: Nicole 'Pickles' Smith on bass, Laura 'The Kid' Kelsey on drums, Mark Rains on percussion, Mark Cisneros on saxophone, Sean Solomon on saxophone, Glenn Brigman on Organ/keys and Kisten Leonard, Alex James and Shannon Lay on vocals...and you know what, I have no idea who's doing what on which tracks, as there's no detailed legend. Baa, so what, all I know is that it all sounded excellent, and I say bravo y'all, I doff my cap, your gestalt creation is a beautiful thing. I have to say though, I'll single out the sax players for praise for their particularly marvellous performances, I do enjoy a bit of sax, they really brought something cool to the party.  As did Bloomgarden and Brigham's performances on organ/keys which also shone. Proficient musicians one and all, Death Valley Girls have done well to keep a raw and real feel to their sound, Darkness Rains is an outstanding album...check it out. I imagine they're flipping ace live too.