"TT:EM" Scores Another One On whisperinandhollerin.co.uk

9 out of 10 stars

By Danny Colt

I think I need to smack me roommate. He has this uncanny knack for hiding the best records from me. I reckon all of us have peculiar abilities, and his talent for concealing his top discoveries is admirable yet completely obnoxious.

And so it is I found this unknown disc under a pile of girlie mags. Quite appropriate since the group is called the Pin-Up Girls although there's nothing nasty on this CD unless, of course, you're offended by extraterrestrial probes. More on that later. The cover of the album itself, seductive girl of Asian origin, is an attention-getter, my guess is that she is modeled after one of the band's female singers, one Jeng Tan whose sweet-as-wine vocals on "Lullabye" makes me want to get married again even though I'm not divorced yet. Yeah, you're right - that's not your problem. Pardon the offtopic, then.

The Pin-Up Girls are all about guitar twang (not the country kind) and sorta shoegazer shimmer. The riffs sparkle and take on dreamy notes as on "Pictures." A Google search explained that the Ups are from the Philippines, and that explains why I can't place the accents, which is refreshing. Singing is charming throughout, and styles vary. "Caress" is a deathbed ballad, creepy and sexy at the same time. A string section is not what I normally hear on indie releases, and I thought the entire album was going to be similarly in the chamber-pop vein.

Two chicks and one lad, Mondo Castro, trade off on the vocals, sometimes harmonizing to hypnotic effect (the
aforementioned "Pictures"). Back to extraterrestrial probes then: "Spacegrrl Superb" is about being abducted and played with by aliens. Is there a term yet for this fetish? The Ups must be smoking some pretty toxic stuff to write twisted, sick lyrics like that yet it's all poppy and your parents can drink tea to it without getting too disturbed. The music is pleasant enough, moving fast like a rabbit hopping through the backwoods.

To think that me roommate hid this from me so he can enjoy it by himself without letting anybody borrow it. Ha! Of course, I'm paying the price now because "Taste Test: Expanded Menu" has me addicted. There's info about them at http://www.knowitallrecords.com and hopefully your roommate won't put the CD in seclusion.


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