V Is For Vaselines

Scottish boy/girl duo who quietly invented twee, low fi irreverent simple pop rock with a punk ethos in 1986. Probably destined for music geek obscuri-worship had Cobain not unveiled them by covering their catchiest of tunes and blasting them to arenas full of appreciative Nirvana fans. Their records were immediately re-released by Sub Pop back then, to much fanfare. The boy/girl sexual tension is palpable, rivaled only by that on the first Pixies recordings (I recently played Vaselines' first album to the virgin ears of my gf and she said "are all their songs about sex?". Of course I answered, "every song ever written is about sex", but I digress). They reformed a few years ago, toured, and now have this splendid album. The cutting sexual observant lyrics, boy/girl tradeoff/harmonies remain. The music is filled with Ramones'y fun power chords that contrast the sugary sweet boy/girl indie they invented. Great stuff. Don't miss them in SF January 27th.

1) (3:36) upbeat indie pop with 90's style "ba ba bop" male singing
2)* (3:37) slower strummy w girl lead vocs
3) (3:14) triplety mid with male vocs
4)* (2:50) straight ahead pop rock, mid, fem vocs lead way
5)* (4:22) sugary sweet duet, lovely
6) (3:30) rockin feel
7) (2:38) another rocker, fem vocs
8) (3:52) mid heavier feeling head nod rocker, fem vocs
9)* (2:22) male lead, bright upbeat "being with you kills my IQ crushed and alone and confused"
10) (3:54) slower epic sock hop ballad feel