Consumer Guide Album

Grrrl Gang: Spunky! [Kill Rock Stars, 2023]
Given the spelling of their sobriquet, the temptation to slot these Indonesian two-gals-and-a-guy as riot grrrl is irresistible even though their 10 songs in 25 minutes aren't especially catchy or cutting, hence punk only in the fast-short-hard sense. But for me sociological factors more than compensate, though you can call them psychological if you prefer--either way they provide a convincing glimpse of an exotic yet also generic club-kid culture, and either way what's interesting about guitarist-lyricist-vocalist Angeeta Santana is that she's not defiant or funny like good little punks should be. She's just painfully honest and dolefully insecure the way so many of the defiantly funny are down deep. "Don't know how I got here. I blinked and now I'm 23." "I lack direction. It hurts to sing." "I'm lneurotic, manic, borderline psychotic." "When you hold my thigh, it's never a waste of my time." "I feel caged in my body. I've been flirting with death. Just to see what it has to offer." "I was born in the pit. I gave birth in the pit. I never shave my pits. Let me swallow your spit." "You're never gonna be this young again." A-