Country: Norway
The E Street Band‘s Little Steven (aka Steven Van Zandt) knows his rock n’ roll, and has been a tastemaker for underground rock music through his radio program and Wicked Cool Records for a while now. So when he signs off on a band, it’s a safe bet they are going to have some bonafide rock credentials.
Meet Oslo, Norway’s Cocktail Slippers. Nearly twenty years into their career, this all-woman rock group has been blasting out melodic garage rock since 2002, and are still going strong. I first came across the group from their 2009 song “St. Valentine’s Day Massacre”, which was used as the centerpiece song for the fictional band in Dave Chase’s movie Not Fade Away. I didn’t realize the song wasn’t written for the film until later – it appears the song was so good that parts of the film were written around it. Well, I don’t blame them – it’s a perfectly crafted, heartfelt rock song.
Keeping the fire going, the band has just released their latest album Shout It Out Loud! on Van Sandt’s label. Tracks like “Like a Song Stuck in My Head” use a bouncy beat and enticing vocal harmonies, coated in a new wave sheen, to recapture the magic of early Go Go‘s, while others like “She Devil (Shout It Out Loud!)” bring the charming quirkiness of Devo and mix it with an attitude-filled surf pop chorus.
Great harmonies, slick riffs and cotton candy hooks cover a meaty core make for a rock band worth watching. If you’ve slept on this band the last two decades, now is a great time to wake up to them. Hear a couple of their tracks in our World Watch Playlist!
The Indy Review 