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Dec 22, 2014 Web Exclusive By Frank Valish

Under the Radar’s writers are picking a few of 2014’s records they personally feel were overlooked, perhaps albums that didn’t land on our Top 140 Albums of 2014 list, nor on many other best of the year lists. Here Frank Valish writes about Mannequin Pussy’s Gypsy Pervert.

Philadelphia has a vibrant DIY music scene, with makeshift “venues” popping up across the city hosting a variety of local bands. One of those bands also has quietly released one of 2014’s best albums. After starting as a duo in the early 2010s and after a couple moves (Connecticut to New York, New York to Philly), Mannequin Pussy has finally settled into a deliciously raucous groove. Childhood friends Marisa Dabice (guitar/vocals) and Thanasi Paul (guitar), along with newer addition Kaleen Reading (drums), make a furious noise. Gypsy Pervert is their undeniable statement of purpose. Recorded with the band’s former drummer and released as a limited run cassette in 2013, the album saw proper release this year, and one would be remiss to overlook it as one of 2014’s finest.

Gypsy Pervert is equal parts punk aggression and tuneful melodicism, often presented at the same time in balls-to-the-wall, in-your-face manner. After the screaming confrontational rager, “Sneaky,” Gypsy Pervert segues into “My Baby (Axe Nice),” a song that plays like a debauched version of ‘60s girl group The Shangri-Las, with Dabice belying the song’s singable melody with lyrics that rhyme “bleeding on the dirty floor” with “he wants to be my baby once more.” “Clue Juice” is the band’s classic rocker-a term that in the case of Mannequin Pussy is extremely relative-with the scream-along chorus of: “If that’s the way you want it, well then that’s the way it is.”

The brilliantly- and subversively-titled “Clit Eastwood” is Black Sabbath-esque sludge with Dabice not screaming but rather singing almost gently overtop plodding instrumental grind. “Someone Like You” is shoegaze, a perfect melody obscured by instrumental fuzz, and “Terror, No!” is a brutal fuck off. “Sheet City” revisits the ‘60s girl group motif, with jangly guitar intro leading into stomping riff and Dabice sounding like she’s trying her best (relatively unsuccessfully) to temper her rage with accessible vocal melody. And finally, the album ends on “Pissdrinker,” a dark, brooding masochistic track with creeping tempo and begging vocals that culminate with Dabice screaming, “Tell me what you want tonight!”

All in all, Gypsy Pervert is over in 20 minutes, only three of its 10 songs exceeding the two-minute mark. What will strike you first is the album’s intensity. The songs hit you over the head like an anvil and pummel with a ferocity and ferociousness that will force you to submit. But what repeated listenings reveals is the album’s diversity. Punk is an easy descriptor but the girl-group melodies, shoegaze-y haze, and metal fuzz makes such a one-word descriptor woefully inadequate. The album is sequenced to play to this diversity and, while it can be overlooked amidst the fire of Dabice’s voice, the fury of Paul’s guitar, and the driving intensity of the drums, which now belong to the extraordinary Reading (see them live for proof), this diversity is what makes Gypsy Pervert so exquisite. It will seep into your consciousness and take you over. Mark it: Best of 2014.

(mannequinpussy.bandcamp.com)

Stream the whole album here: