Insight & Critique
  • DAC
  • Indie Music Album Reviews
  • About
  • Submissions
  • Top albums
  • Features
  • Contact

Lipstick Jodi - Good Not Great

3/21/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Lipstick Jodi

Good Not Great
self-released; 2016

3.9 out of 5

By J Simpson

Love can be a drag. It can also be the most exciting, amazing thing on Earth that takes your breath away, sending goose bumps up and down your neck and arms, making you lightheaded. Love can make you want to surrender, to be swept away. It can also make you want to drive a nail file through someone's eye.

Seeing as how love is intimately tied up in our survival, both personal as well as a species, it's not surprising that there's a lot of energy behind it. Libidinal forces as psychologists put it. The kind of thing that can make you can crazy. Or blast you into the stratosphere into ecstasy.

Rock n’ roll, being the most id-centric/libidinal music on the planet, is uniquely qualified to express this roller coaster ride, as you can hear on Good Not Great, the debut LP from Grand Rapid, MI's Lipstick Jodi.

Lipstick Jodi have been described as the "lesbian love child of the St. Vincent and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs," which basically means smart, driving, aggressive guitar rock that you can dance to. Lipstick Jodi sounds like late '90s girl-fronted alt-rock, all grown up and pissed off. If Avril Lavigne had dropped the cutesy, stylish act, or if Garbage had grown to be as popular as other Butch Vig-produced acts, like the Smashing Pumpkins, they might've grown up to be Lipstick Jodi.

It's refreshing to hear an emotional range in driving, energetic rock n’ roll. Too often, we're left with a bunch of guitar slingers pretending to be medieval barbarians or hired mercenaries. That's not to say that the average Williamsburg indie band hasn't fought off a marauding band of Goths or Vandals, but it is unlikely (and I would definitely buy that CD). Instead, Lipstick Jodi talks about things everybody can relate to, no matter their gender (or age, or class, or background for that matter).

Guitar player/singer Karli Morehouse is the driving force behind Lipstick Jodi as the principle songwriter and she reveals herself to be quite a songsmith, as well as having a great set of pipes. You've likely heard someone who sounds like Morehouse before, so it's up to you to decide if that's a good or bad thing. If you're into complete novelty, these sounds are likely to drift right past your eardrums. If you're looking for someone transforming and transmogrifying existing styles into something distinctive and personal, you're in luck!

Glorious guitars and powerful beats are tightly choreographed to fit the vocals, creating a compelling backdrop that perfectly accentuates Morehouse's tales of new and fading romance. Interesting effects are dropped in periodically, on every front, like the distorted lo-fi vocals of "Exist." which brings to mind the raging storm of industrial rockers Curve, or an ever-more-pissed Shirley Manson. Guitars also range wildly from the thick, sludgy sheets of sound of "Exist" to catchy palm-muting, and explosive, sunburst post-rock lead on "Caught By A Whim."

All in all, it's nice to hear a different kind of story in a short rock n’ roll EP that has enough hallmarks of both pop and extreme rock to satisfy both. If Taylor Swift fans are looking for a way to get into Metallica, or vice versa, here's your bridge!

Expect great things from Grand Rapids, MI's Lipstick Jodi.
Become A Fan
official website
Tweet
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

       Critique/insight

    We are dedicated to informing the public about the different types of independent  music that is available for your listening pleasure as well as giving the artist a professional critique from a seasoned music geek. We critique a wide variety of niche genres like experimental, IDM, electronic, ambient, shoegaze and much more.

    Tweets by divideanconqer
    Are you one of our faithful visitors who enjoys our website? Like us on Facebook


    Archives

    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012

Company

About
Contributors

Newsletter

Newsletter
Book Your Band
© Divide and Conquer 2022. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • DAC
  • Indie Music Album Reviews
  • About
  • Submissions
  • Top albums
  • Features
  • Contact