On Repeat: Warpaint - Undertow

Hello.

My name is Michael Dunn and it's been 8 days since my last blog post. Not that it's something I need to confess, or that I've been consciously not blogging, it's just that I haven't found the time. But gee willikers is there a lot to tell you. I ran the Boston Half Marathon in 1:37 (please hold your applause until the end), I took a massive Pathophysiology exam Tuesday night, I nearly won a Pumpkin Cook-off (stay tuned for the blog post), and I have become the proud owner of a real, respectable, fully functional (?) beard. Well, complete with mustache and minus that little part on my left cheek from where my parents must have branded me when I was 2. Now that you feel caught up on my life, let's get to the meat and potatoes of this blog, eh? Over the last year (!!! seriously, blog started Oct. 5, 2009. I probably should have blogged about that (META)), you've surely become accustomed to my writing style (I like to think it's TS Eliot meets Cormac McCarthy), and my tastes (overwhelmingly good), but personally, it's been interesting to read over some early blog entries and see how things have evolved. If any of you have ever done something substantial over a long period of time (doubt it), you can probably relate. It's kind of like when I found my Trapper Keeper diary when I was 16 and re-lived 2nd grade. On that note: if you think my handwriting is bad now, just IMAGINE me at 7 years old. I do want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for reading this blog, and for your support, be it in the form of an even snarkier comment or just by admitting that you read it. As evidenced by my beard, I've grown up a lot this year, and I'm glad you were along for the ride. Now back to the show:


I don't usually like female rock vocalists (except for Karen O, but she doesn't count), and have an  ESPECIALLY short attention span with ALL-GIRL groups that aren't doo-wopping or named Destiny's Child (GET BACK TOGETHER LADIES!). So imagine my response when I first got wind of Warpaint, the all-girl quartet (I don't know where the other one is the above photo. Taking the photo perhaps?) from Los Angeles. No thank you. But miraculously, the god's conspired to change my mind and it wasn't long before Undertow trickled out of my radio speakers one afternoon, and I was positively smitten. It's hard to say exactly what makes them so darn enchanting. Maybe it's the multi-part harmonies you just don't hear anymore these days, maybe it's those eerie disembodied vocals or the slippery bass lick. They are just good, and that's that. Take a listen, won't you?