Robert Christgau: Dean of American Rock Critics

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Cadallaca

  • Introducing Cadallaca [K, 1998] A
  • Out West [Kill Rock Stars, 2000] *

Consumer Guide Reviews:

Introducing Cadallaca [K, 1998]
There's a Cadallaca interview in which Corin Tucker confuses the Ronettes with the Shirelles, and even if it was a "put-on," as young people say, that's all you need know about how much this side project has to do with classic girl groups and the rest of that rot. It's just a song sluice for an irrepressible talent--somewhat gentler and less conflict-purging, with Sarah Dougher's organ replacing Carrie Brownstein's guitar. The one noir period piece is the one misstep; elsewhere they imagine 1942 and dis a booker and invent new romance tropes the way they would in any other band. I love Brownstein. But Tucker could end up eclipsing Polly Jean Harvey herself if that was the way she thought about the world. And one of her strengths is that it isn't. A

Out West [Kill Rock Stars, 2000]
four songs boasting three cocomposers, and not necessarily better for the collective effort ("Fake Karaoke Machine," "Out West") *