Review: Bettie Serveert, Attagirl

Hoo-boy, I need some new music. Desperately. In case you can't tell by scrolling down, most of my purchases these days are either reissues of things I've owned forever, or increasingly non-essential new albums by bands who've long outlived their sell-by date. Attagirl, no kidding, is plainly in the latter category. Released in early 2005, I finally picked it up, more out of habit than anything else. I loved the band a decade ago, when Dutch chanteuse Carol Van Dyk wrapped her mighty pipes around the band's Crazy Horse-like grunge pop, and the goodwill they generated from 1994 debut Palomine was enough to let me overlook the increasing sameness of subsequent albums. For better or worse, they tried to shake the malaise with 2000's Private Suit and 2003's Log 22, dropping the noisy guitars in favor of smoother, keyboard-augmented balladry. Neither album was bad, but a couple decent tracks aside, neither was terribly interesting.

So I came into Attagirl with fairly low expectations -- and, as can happen in these situations, I liked this much more than I'd anticipated. Sure, it keeps in the vein of the last couple albums, mostly downbeat and easy-going, but mixes things up a bit with some electronic vibes ("Dreamaniacs"), jazzy bits (the title tune), and (brief) return to rockers of yore ("Hands Off"). Not a high-impact disc by any stretch of the imagination, but solid through and through.

p.s. I'm serious. I need some new music. There have got to be some new artists out there I'm missing. Drop me a line (marc@fagel.com) if you've got some tips. Thanks.