Dirty Little Secret - Cabin Fever (Album)
L.A’s latest secret is out. And it’s a dirty little one. You won’t hear it on the lips of Oprah or Hollywood stars, but indie rockers like Beck and The Bravery have been letting it slip all over the place. Dirty Little Secret’s new album Cabin Fever is out and it’s certainly making a splash.
And deservedly so. The music is a breath of fresh air for those of us becoming bored with the seemingly never ending stream of die-cut bands the U.S has been churning out lately, with their black uniforms and store bought riffs. I find it so frustrating to read or hear about a band that cites classic favourites like The Pixies, Joy Division, The Police and Black Sabbath as influences to entice potential fans, yet failing to continue along these musical lines on any level. Dirty Little Secret is different. While naturally many of their influences are very subtle, they really draw from the music of their heroes and channel it into something that’s totally “now”. And don’t mention the Wolfmother/Jet/70’s rock thing – I don’t want to hear about it.
These guys take guitar lines from the Pixies, dancefloor beats from Bloc Party, and a dash of oldschool melancholy from Sioxsie and the Banshees, mix it up with some attitude and punk-funny-rude lyrics and create this contagious, thrashing, unbridled, energetic rock. As an album, there is perhaps not enough melodic variety between tracks, though this can be overlooked since cleverly crafted melodies are not really what Dirty Little Secret is about.
Cabin Fever opens with the wonderfully titled “Three Way Sex”. It has all the trimmings of alternative rock, with a very Pixie-esque two-note melody set to up-tempo dancey drumbeats belting out the phrase “Three way sex three way sex three way sex” like an anthem. I can't help but compare the vocals in this track to those of Johnny Whitney of The Blood Brothers, though Louis Castle never reaches the Blood Brothers level of screaming. Maybe it’s the subject matter, maybe his childish timbre. Despite this, I find very few other reasons to compare them to The Blood Brothers.
The album continues along this vein, until track four – “Elizabeth” – which sounds so much like a Pixies song I had to check that it wasn’t a cover. It’s not, but if you don’t like early 90’s grunge (Nirvana doesn’t count) you’re guaranteed not to like this. “Perfect For Sex” is the highlight track, where the wild electric guitar line and minor, slightly whiney melody criss-cross beautifully and it’s over too soon, though “Hush Your Lips” is definitely single-worthy, and I know I said I liked his voice, but at times, especially in “Last Act of A Drowning Man”, its positively whingey.
This album ventures has been getting plenty of very valuable nods from some big names, which has seen them score dream support slots with Beck, The Bravery, The Walkmen, Peaches, Les Savy Fav, Maximo Park, We Are Scientists, TV On The Radio and John Cale. Not a bad resume, and things will surely only improve for these quirky Californian dudes. Cabin Fever was recorded in six short weeks, so it is raw in a way that is not always cool and its certainly not accessible enough to hit mainstream. But if nothing else, it shows great potential. I’ll be keeping an eye on them, anyway. Did I mention I’m a Pixies fan?
