An irresistible homage to the Crystals' "He Hit Me (and It Felt Like a Kiss)." More to the point, an irresistible homage to Stella Kowalski reminiscing about her husband Stanley's violence, and concluding "I was sort of--thrilled by it." Which is to say, the Raveonettes aren't doing anything new by wrapping up edgy material in a pretty package. Don't they make it sound good, though?:
Boring confessional: Along with 2009's debut from the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, this Raveonettes album (In and Out of Control) makes me think I should get around to listening to the Jesus and Mary Chain before I die. I've heard more JMC tribute bands than I've heard JMC themselves. It's really disgraceful. From what I understand, JMC were a feedback/reverb-heavy Phil Spector tribute band, so it's not like THEY were doing anything new either. PoBPaH emphasize the feedback/reverb aspect of JMC, with little wispy melodies floating through the noise.
The Raveonettes are more in love with pop structure, so their songs have actual bridges and things amid the wispy melodies. At least on "Bang!", Sharin Foo's voice has more presence than anything the Painz were able to pull off. Great chiming guitar tone, too. Drumming isn't their strong suit, I think--on a Spector song you'd have huge fills and exciting textures in the background, where the Raves manage a couple simple thumping patterns. But the rest of the song's good enough that they prevent me from caring.
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