Girl Noise with Scowl, Um Jennifer?, Lambrini Girls, Beach Bunny & Sleigh Bells: Rapid Fire Reviews
This week's rapid fire reviews are, for lack of a better term, called "girl noise," which is the only way I could think to cover the punk, hardcore, pop punk, indie punk, and noise pop that makes up this group of artists. I've grasped at thinner straws than this for rapid-fire reviews in the past. Enjoy.
Are We All Angels - Scowl
Scowl are a California hardcore band whose reputation as a ferocious live act preceded me ever hearing their studio material after their 2021 debut missed me. In fact, it was one of those live performances that first got me interested in the band, and that hype built alongside some of the singles from this record. In particular, it was “Not Hell, Not Heaven” that really grabbed me and worked as an excellent proof of concept of how the band can bounce between their most pop-friendly ambition and bombastic tension-inducing urges. That gave way to “B.A.B.E.,” which arguably executes the formula every bit as well.
If you follow the discourse surrounding this album online, one thing you'll see is, unsurprisingly, allegations of the band selling out or softening up their sound. It's something that has plagued hardcore bands since the dawn of time, and I hoped Turnstile would have at least done something to silence that process a few years ago. But if you're looking for a great example beyond the singles of how the record can create pummeling hardcore while maintaining melodic sensibilities, look no further than the thunderous and catchy opener “Special,” which I didn't cover when it dropped in 2024, but I sure wish I had now.
While the deep cuts aren't quite as satisfying as singles that kick the record off, they aren't completely without highlights. “Fleshed Out” is definitely a standout of the bunch, where the band proves they still have no issue brushing up against hardcore signifiers. On the other side of things, there's the rock-solid “Cellophane,” which manages to jam despite the sugary framing of most of its refrains. Unfortunately, the album ends with some of its weakest moments compositionally, even if they can bait you in at first with sheer volume alone. Despite that lull, I think Are We All Angels is a pretty strong introduction to Scowl for most people and one whose choice to abandon hardcore in its purest sense isn't without worthy stylistic substitutions. If the band can keep up their raw intensity and reach a level of creative energy to match, they could get even better in a hurry. 7/10
Um Comma Jennifer Question Mark - Um, Jennifer?
Um, Jennifer? are a NYC indie rock duo whose debut album helpfully teaches you how to punctuate their name. I've been hearing about them in queer music circles since at least last year and with their absurdist humor and bouncy performances it's easy to see why. I've always thought of the band as relentlessly fun, but it wasn't until I heard the spectacular single “Old Grimes” that I really fell hook, line & sinker, not just for their personality, but also their talent. The songs push and pull between post-punky gloom and twee indie rock are every bit as notable as its genuinely hilarious lyrics, stacked with cultural references to Ari Aster and, of course, Grimes herself. When you write a song that good, it gets me pretty excited for what's in store, even if I had already heard over half the songs on their debut as singles.
Among those previously released highlights is the punchy opener “So Sick!” and the more angsty and vulnerable “Delicacy,” which follows immediately after. It also features my original favorite Um, Jennifer? song “Girl Class” which cuts its relatively simple theme of learning the tricks and trades of womanhood with a playfully winding composition and several laugh-out-loud moments. Later on the record, we get the slicker, lyrically visceral love song “Cut Me Open” which invokes gory visions of toxic romance that I'm surely capable of being very normal about 😵💫.
While my favorite tracks are mostly the best of the singles, there are certainly more highlights to wade into. “Daddy's Girl” feels like the perfect accompaniment for Underscores’ song “Old Money Bitch” but filtered through an indie rock lens and cut with a Strokes-y guitar solo. But the best deep cut of the bunch by far is “Car Wash,” a punky banger featuring several of the band's most quotable lyrics to date. In fact, that is kind of an underestimation of how good the writing is as almost every god damn word of the entire song is part of at least one hilarious turn of phrase or silly joke, it's an excellent listen.
Just because Um, Jennifer? releasing one of the most promising debut albums of 2025 was predictable, doesn't mean it isn't true. Capitalizing on the elements that make them so unique as a duo and slipping it into a series of irresistibly playful indie rock songs worked to perfection. It feels like the band's songwriting instincts are so sharp and their playful personalities so infectious that the only way to go is up. But even once their scope gets bigger on later releases, this album will hold up as a great collection of tracks all on its own. 7.5/10
Who Let The Dogs Out - Lambrini Girls
Lambrini Girls are a punk duo that seemed to slam into the genre’s zeitgeist starting last year with singles like the (extremely well-aged) cut “God’s Country,” and a hilarious, persisting bit that Banksy is their drummer. “God's Country “ doesn't land on this debut album but other raunchy, classic British punk-influenced singles I enjoyed like “Big Dick Energy” and “Company Culture” did. The band takes an absolute smash and grab approach, slamming into songs, creating as much visceral chaos as possible, and leaving whenever they feel ready. While the results of that approach are inconsistent, it absolutely has its moments.
“You're Not From Around Here” lashes out at gentrification and even hilariously breaks in the middle to read out a literal dictionary definition of the phenomenon. That rage continues onto “Filthy Rich Nepo Baby,” which blisteringly lambasts nepotism using a sequence of hilariously specific examples. The absolute best deep cut here is the closer “Cuntology 101” which is both the catchiest song I've heard them release to date but also a more self-aware approach to the raucous rebellious spirit present throughout the album.
On the opposite side of all this are some of the stylistic and compositional shortcomings of the record. Save for a late-album highlight like “Love,” the album is hardly anything but rage. While it's directed at a variety of topics really effectively, the record never really leaves its stylistic comfort zone. Like the punk bands of old that Lambrini Girls are clearly querying from, that means that they'll make whatever choice makes sense to get angrier, even if it doesn't really make sense for the direction of the song.
Who Let The Dogs Out is a very promising start for Lambrini Girls. It reminds me of 2024’s big shoegaze breakthrough act Julie, in that the reference points are remarkably obvious, but it's the attitude that had the possibility to take the band to compelling new places. When they're at their funniest or most righteous, the belted-out personal perspectives are driven home with pummeling repetition in the way great punk music so often does. So even if the record occasionally calls out for a shift in tone or a new breath of style, that never stopped me from returning to it. 6.5/10
Tunnel Vision - Beach Bunny
Like most of the records in this list, Tunnel Vision first caught my eye through the singles. In the past few years, Beach Bunny have made pretty big strides towards shedding their reputation as a glorified Paramore cover band. That hit its peak with "Vertigo," "Clueless," and the title track, each of which hit with the catchy vibrancy of pop-punk at its absolute best. But it was actually the final single, "Big Pink Bubble," that felt like the most telling. Despite getting off to a great start, it has a hook so sugary and artificial that it feels like Kidz Bop. Though it is the shortest song on the record, it is unfortunately every bit as much of a signifier as the three excellent singles that preceded it.
Thankfully, the slip is hardly that dramatic. Opener "Mr. Predictable" isn't nearly as hooky as what follows, but it does have a bouncy energy that wastes no time kicking the record off. "Chasm" has a fun, rousing pre-chorus, but what follows completely fails to build on that good start. That kind of shrugged attitude is my reaction to pretty much all the deep cuts. Even "Just Around The Corner," which has become a fan favorite for its political commentary, meets it with a demeanor and delivery that just feels so cheap and bubbly relative to the sound and subject matter.
This very short review doesn't do justice to exactly HOW good the trio of singles that led this era off are. They're probably among the top 5 Beach Bunny songs ever and miles better than anything else on the record. For that reason, I'm probably more favorable to the record than the review would lead you to believe, but that's also the reason it's a bigger disappointment. An album that I went into hoping for a breath of fresh air in pop-punk, like we got last year from Neck Deep of all places, proved to be is instead 30 minutes of playful and largely low-impact songs broken up by a few great singles. 5.5/10
Bunky Becky Birthday Boy - Sleigh Bells
Oh Sleigh Bells, the noise pop band with so much personality it sometimes becomes an anchor. I've always considered myself a fan of Sleigh Bells, even though in some sense their own relentless quest to be as quirky as possible can undermine how genuinely creative they are as a noise pop duo. I thought that their previous effort Texis in 2021 was their best in years, which combined with this album's raucous and catchy lead single "Wanna Start A Band?" had me pretty excited for the project as a whole. But the second single and immensely more important "Bucky Pop," which opens the album off, certainly did a great job of slowing that hype train down. This song is the absolute definition of the band crushing their chaotic ambitions with immeasurable goofiness, and it's hardly the only time on the album this pops up
But even more than that, I'm surprised by how boring I find the record. At their very worst and their very best, you could never call Sleigh Bells complacent or lazy. And honestly, this record doesn't lack ambition, I just don't find the results very compelling. "Roxette Ric" is a perfect example of a track that feels like it should provoke a strong response with how loud it is, and yet it tends to go in one ear and out the other no matter how many times I listen. "Can I Scream" is an even better example of a song that leaves no real impact in a way I'm not used to from Sleigh Bells.
It's not that there are NO highlights whatsoever, though. The third single, "This Summer," seems to sound better and better every time I hear it. The big deep cut highlight is "Hi Somebody," which has these neurotic haunted-house keys that never really relent throughout the entire track and eventually work their way through a ton of other standout instrumentation. Sleigh Bells being inconsistent is nothing new; the only thing that's changed is that I have so little to say about it. In the past, at their lowest they've been breathtakingly cringey, and this album never reaches that point. But that's kind of a problem in itself, as it feels like a piece of the band that's also present during their best material is just carved out entirely. 5/10
