Dum Dum Girls

Led by the mysterious Dee Dee, Dum Dum Girls churn out pop music that adheres to her self-proclaimed M.O.: "blissed-out buzz saw." Dee Dee formed DDG in late 2008 as a solo project -- the name a nod to both The Vaselines' album, Dum-Dum, and the Iggy Pop song "Dum Dum Boys" -- and released a series of great singles on esteemed labels like Hozac and Captured Tracks, culminating in the fab debut album I Will Be on Sub Pop.

Dee Dee wrote and recorded the songs that became I Will Be over the first eight months of 2009, and upon completion handed them over to the legendary Richard Gottehrer (The Angels, Strangeloves, Blondie, The Go-Gos) for production. The result is one of the great pop records of 2010, a tribute to love, loss, fear, fun, the classic pop form of the '60s girl groups and early punk rockers. Deftly straddling the line between pop and the garage punk that Dee Dee loves, I Will Be is a textbook example of how to make music at once familiar but totally new, classic but also bang up-to-date.

"Bhang Bhang, I'm A Burnout" is one of the toughest songs on the album, a fuzz-laden slice of garage pop with a killer chorus that muses on the virtues of psychedelics. It's one of our favorite Dum Dum Girls songs, and thanks to our friends at Sub Pop we're now able to bring it to you on the perfect 7" single format. Trippy but also dripping with attitude, "Bhang Bhang" is Dee Dee's Sunset Strip '67 moment and we love it.

"Last Caress" on the flip is of course a cover of the classic horror-punk Misfits tune. It hearkens back to Dee Dee's more minimal roots, her fragile vocals and jangling guitar getting right to the pop at the core of the song. While most Misfits covers try to out-punk the originals, Dee Dee wisely plays to her strengths and comes up with something haunting and completely true to her vision.