The picture sleeve of Netherlands-based all-girl band Wicked Lady’s ‘Girls Love Girls,’ 1979. The girls appear to be channeling the cover of the 1977 album by Thor, ‘Keep the Dogs Away.’ Right on ladies!
 
This post was inspired by blogger Eric Brightwell and his three-part series of articles that featured a shitload of fantastic sounding all-girl bands and an entire piece dedicated to groups from the 1970s. It was Brightwell’s third in a series that uncovered all-lady bands that dated back as far as 1910. I don’t know what we did to ever deserve Mr. Brightwell and his somewhat exhaustive chick-centric exposés but I for one have been obsessing about his findings for nearly a week now.

Since I adore all things that are from the decade that helped define the correct temparture of cool: aka the 1970s, I zeroed in on a few of my favorites like Dutch band Wicked Lady (pictured at the top of this post), St. Louis’ The Welders, and Portland, Oregon’s empowering punk pioneers, Neo Boys. In most cases the bands featured in this post didn’t stick around too long, maybe two or three years before disappearing, which for me only enhances the joy of discovering sounds made by girls who had the courage and chops to put themselves out there. I’ve included some cool photos followed by some of my favorite tracks done by each band that I was able to dig up online. Face the facts people, girls rule.
 

Hounslow, UK-based all-girl band, Mother Trucker and the amazing cover of their self-titled 1975 album.
 

St. Louis-based band The Welders.
 

Toronto band Curse.
 
More girls after the jump…

 
Kim Gordon has reportedly begun writing her autobiography—just one of two books she will be publishing soon, the second will focus on her writing for art magazines in the 80s. She’s also slated to appear in the third season of HBO’s Girls. Via NME:

Set to be titled Girl In A Band and published by HarperCollins, it will “chronicle her choice to leave Los Angeles in the early ’80s for the post-punk scene in New York City, where she formed Sonic Youth”. Gordon was a member of the iconic group from their foundation in 1981 until 2011, when the band went on hiatus after her separation from bandmate and husband Thurston Moore. She has since formed a new band, Body/Head, with Vampire Belt member Bill Nace.

Another book due to be released by Sternberg Press will collate essays the musician wrote for art and culture magazines in the 1980s. Meanwhile, Gordon is also exhibiting a retrospective of her own visual art at New York gallery White Columns. The exhibition features her work from 1980 right through to 2013 and, according to the gallery’s own website, “a new limited-edition vinyl solo recording by Kim Gordon will accompany the exhibition, and a publication anthologizing Gordon’s activities as an artist will follow in the fall.”

The world of book publishing isn’t entirely new for Ms. Gordon. In the mid Oughts she released Chronicles, Vol.1 and Vol. 2, and another artist’s book, Performing/Guzzling, followed in 2010.

Body/Head’s Coming Apart album is released today

Below, Body/Head (Kim Gordon and Bill Nace) at Kunstencentrum, Belgium on February 24th 2012.
 

 
The good Reverend Gordon marries Rufus and Lily on Gossip Girl:
 

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
‘Gynoticians’: David Cross & Amber Tamblyn’s brutal takedown of know-nothing GOP politicians
Worst rock tattoo of all time
Plentiful new Sonic Youth product despite total lack of extant Sonic Youth
Sonic Meth: Sonic Youth meets ‘Breaking Bad’ tee-shirt

 
As a fan of Harmony Korine’s over-the-top, raunchy, apocalyptic fun fest Spring Breakers and Lena Dunham’s brilliant TV series Girls, I unreservedly dig this mash-up put together by The Hollywood Reporter. By bouncing the unselfconscious, anything goes, fuck you approach of Korine’s film off the the over-analytical, to the point of paralysis, psycho-babbling Girls we end up with a third entity: hipster gangsta angsta.

They’ll be plenty of people hatin’ on Spring Breakers. I say ignore them. The movie is pure trash of a very sublime sort (purity is in short supply these days). Imagine a Girls Gone Wild video directed by Gaspar Noe and Godard. Harmony Korine’s critique of reality TV, gangsta shit and pop culture’s commodification of tweenybopper celebs is as scattershot as the gunfire at the movie’s climax, but when it hits its target it draws blood. Beach Blanket Bingo for the comfortably numb.

Since when did THP get into the mash-up business? I had no idea they had this level of coolness in them.
 

 
Father, Son, Holy Ghost is the new album by San Francisco indie boys, um, Girls. Their debut album, called simply Album, made waves on its release in 2009 and this follow up is even better (if you ask me). There are sounds here reminiscent of early 90s grunge and shoegazing, but more than that Father, Son, Holy Ghost just drips mid-70s FM radio rock vibes. In a good way. Whereas some bands can really over egg their puddings using the kitchen sink-formula (choir! organ! strings! fuzzy guitar! bland mush!) Girls have got it just right, tempering their mix with the right balance of romance and melancholy. Check out this sweet car-fetish video for the single “Vomit”, which is available as a free download from the band’s Facebook page:

Girls - “Vomit”
 

 
Don’t worry - despite the title there’s nothing sick or NSFW in there, even though I detect shades of both Dazed And Confused and Cronenberg’s Crash. Father, Son, Holy Ghost is out now on Fantasy Trashcan/Matador records - there’s more info, including tour dates, on this page. If you like “Vomit” you can listen to the whole album right here: