The debut album from Cherry Pickles, the wonderfully-titled Cherry Pickles Will Harden Your Nipples, is one of the best things I've heard in ages. There's a wicked sort of inventive energy on this record, out tomorrow on PNKSLM, and fans of everything from The Ronettes to The Cramps should love this as much as I do.
"Let's Be Bad" is all bad intent wrapped around a big twang-y hook, while "Evil Exorcist" is the sort of thing that suggests The Chiffons covering Ian Svenonius. "I Still Miss Lux" is, presumably, possibly about the late Lux Interior of The Cramps, while the surging "Rapido" sounds like those early recordings from Hinds. Cherry Pickles Will Harden Your Nipples is a short record, but it's one of those albums where every cut seems to burn through all of its ideas in just a minute or two. In that regard, some of this is, oddly, reminiscent of stuff from the C86 generation, even as bits and pieces here, like the fine "We Are Cherry Pickles", or the tropicalia-tinged "It Will All End in Tears, suggest numbers from Helen Love, Talulah Gosh, or Throw That Beat In The Garbagecan!
A record that fully fits in with that whole skewed pop-vibe put forth by most of the best bands on PNKSLM, Cherry Pickles Will Harden Your Nipples is a delight. The Brit duo charm here, even as they sound like the sort of kids who might burn down your house and laugh about it as they roar away in a stolen car with the radio blaring.
Cherry Pickles Will Harden Your Nipples is out tomorrow via PNKSLM.
More details on Cherry Pickles via the band's official Facebook page.
[Photo: Uncredited promotional picture]