Music Review :: Spinnerette - Spinnerette

Artist :: Spinnerette
Album :: Spinnerette
Release :: 2009
Label :: Anthem Records
Genre :: Alternative Rock

Farewell Brody Dalle, it feels as though we hardly knew ye.

In the tradition of finding backing bands that sound like cover versions of whatever her husband's band sounds like, as is "Brody" Bree Joanna Alice Robinson-Dalle-Armstrong-Homme's way, it comes as no surprise that the ex-Distillers frontwoman's new band, Spinnerette, sounds startlingly like Queens of the Stone Age (Dalle is hitched to QotSA's Josh Homme incase you live under some sort rock or wet board.)

Now, my qualms with Queens of the Stone Age are pretty simple: It's painfully simple music played with zero energy and little-to-no lyrical perspective. There's no context to any of the music, which all seems to be by the grand design of Homme who never manages to get the result to sound 10% like I assume it does in his head, and yet, as Peter from the Family Guy said regarding The Godfather... "It insists upon itself."

So it's not really the biggest surprise of my lifetime that Brody Dalle's crappy knock-off QotSA band doesn't exactly strike a chord with me on any sort of significant level. Muddy and ugly. Plodding and with a total lack of energy despite all the shouting. Brody's sexy venom that made The Distillers more than just one of a thousand other faceless crappy punk revival bands never once gets the chance to emerge from under the distorted murk and shine on Spinnerette.

Sure, I understand she's trying, and that Cortney Love-esque voice of hers is still top-shelf, but it seems to have nothing to cling onto musically. Like a lioness scratching hopelessly at a smooth steel wall, Brody makes a lot of sparks but no actual traction.

The only notable highlights here are "Ghetto Love," which had been previously released late last year on their Getto Love EP, and "Impaler" which is the only track that manages to develop a little personality between the clouds of thudding distorted one-note bass riffs. I suppose the closest other thing to a highlight would be the tacky crotch-shot cover art, as, even if her musical career seems to all but made it's final circulation of the drain, at least she has very nice hips. 2/5