Get Deap!

Full of ragged, primitive, and stomping hard rock rhythms, distorted and greasy blues riffs, and shouted, shrieking vocals, the San Fernando duo Deap Vally, made up of guitarist and vocalist Lindsey Troy and drummer Julie Edwards, sound like the White Stripes or the Black Keys done over from the female side of things, although the sound and subject matter hit the same crunchy, thumping, and swampy groove and looseness. Never mind that they met in a crochet class; these ladies can rock and make noise with the loudest and brashest out there, although this four-song EP, produced by Lars Stalfors, is the only audio evidence thus far, with a full-length, Sistrionix, also produced by Stalfors, rumored to be on its way. So what do we have here, aside from a chance for a lot of media hype? Well, these self-professed Valley Girls look media-ready, sultry and trashy in just the right degree, and they can rock dangerously, with Troy's impassioned vocals carrying a lot of attitude, urgency, and plain-out sass, her huge, clanging guitar riffs keeping everything locked and edgy, while Edwards is the rawest of drummers, adding to the rush and urgency by just barely keeping up with things, and it all comes out frayed, powerful, and even a little scary. Again, there are only four songs here, and they don't vary an awful lot, however effective they are, so we'll probably have to wait for the full-length Sistrionix to determine whether Deap Vally is a brilliant one-horse pony or not.