Micragirls – Wild Girl Walk

Primal garage pop, with a deep feel for Cramps/psychobilly and at times downright silly.

Primal garage pop, with a deep feel for Cramps/psychobilly and at times downright silly.

http://www.bonevoyagerecordings.com http://www.myspace.com/micragirls

Wild Girl Walk is a very enjoyable rocker from Finland’s Micragirls, a triowho have roped in Jon Spencer to sing on one of their tracks; but more of that later. As with all releases on the marvellous Bone Voyage label, this is something of a blast. It’s primal garage pop, with a deep feel for Cramps/psychobilly and at times downright silly.

I Know has all the prerequisites of a classic stomp; reedy Seeds-style organ runs and chugging guitar informing the most basic of chord structures, topped with some Ice Queen growling from singer Mari Halonen. Subtlety isn’t really on the menu, but it doesn’t really need to be with the comic horror of Electric Chair Twist, which knows two tempos; slothful, and (wait for it), electrifying. Spencer adds a great counterpoint to the celebratory Out Of Tune, thee most basic of rockers.

The record continues in much the same vein throughout. We are treated to a couple of slowies in the twee Story of Two (which shows that Halonen has an affecting, gentle side to her muse) and the soft jingle jangle of Summer’s Gone, but mostly it’s mid-to up-tempo wig outs that predominate, with that organ smeared everywhere like jam. Highlights for this reviewer are the psychotic Rock’ n’ Roll Rocket, which sounds at times like a very tinny Ramones track and the marvellous rollercoaster psycho-drama of Can You Keep A Secret?, which is worth the price of this LP alone.