Jumping Bomb Girls

"From the land that gave you speed dating, 60-second previews, text-messaging in abbreviations and shortcake comes the Jumping Bomb Girls, a band that demands to be heard but knows you don't always have a heck of a lot of time, so they don't dilly dally around with a lot of that 'Oi Boris, get to the chorus' stuff that other bands seem so enmeshed in…"

Like you, I'm someone that loves a good hype. Remember the liner notes of the very first Cat Stevens' album, where it said "Nothing short of an act of God would stop Cat from becoming a star?" Well, praise Allah, I bought that album. And when the first Partridge Family long-player said, "They reverberate with lots of homespun good vibes and harmony," again I took such greasy bait. That I snapped them up for a mere pittance at a church bazaar shouldn't matter—as long as someone on God's green earth is going out on a limb for a band and making up words along the way to get me to listen, I'll listen. Especially when it's words like "fabtasticalous," And "funningest." And "scunge."

So when not one, but TWO debut albums from the Jumping Bomb Girls bundled together arrived under my nose, teeming with talent, potent in potential and without a scintilla of hype attached, naturally I was suspicious. I soon realized why it didn't need any. What the Jumping Bomb Girls are doing on Disciple & Punish/Muff is giving immediacy a run for its money by presenting über-accessible pop songs, miniatures in many cases, devoid of non-pertinent passages, extraneous choruses, superfluous solos, any frills that would add excess baggage to the economical and smart songwriting of Justin Keane (guitar, vocals) and detract from solid and straight ahead rhythms enforced by Miss Ellen Keffer (bass & vocals) and Miss Amy Young (drums & vocals).

In an age where people are chopping their songs down to fit into ringtone lengths, Jumping Bomb Girls songs are ringtone length—no song overstays its welcome beyond the two-minute and seventeen second curfew. It's as if Keane makes up his mind about a subject, be it the "Secretaries of Schwerve," the lines on Claude Jade's face or being swaddled in the "Cove of Nurses," says his piece, disturbs his peace and yours and then moves on.

"Time and feelings aren't always synonymous--you don't need five minutes to stop a heart, create a smile, bring about tears or take away breath,' says Amy, who I'm convinced is at this very moment scribbling a note to Justin about writing a song called "Take Away Breath." For the fleeting thoughts about life others forget after they spill double lattes on their car seats are the kinds of things Justin remembers, documents and captures in digitalis forever.

The Jumping Bomb Girls' Disciple & Punish/Muff is the result of recording two consecutive summers recording with Mike McDonald of Bomb Shack Studios in Cleveland, Ohio. With the entire band living in three different states, the excitement of coming together each time after long periods woodshedding separately is infectious—even the ground switches buzz with anticipation. In the limited time frame they have given themselves to record, there is no room for pussyfooting around—out come songs of urgent splendor—the minimalist glitter rock of "Get Ready for the F-U Fuzz," the rah rah punk of "Huffathon," the high-five to the MC5 on "Robert Mitchum Testimony," the near-roots rock of "Gold in the Crackerjacks," the caring "Secretaries of Schwerve" and the sheer snottiness of "Your Army of Shitheels."

About the wisdom of releasing their first album and second albums together, Miss Amy says "We want to release them on one CD, but as two separate units because they are so diverse, in many ways, though the writing and recording processes were similar. Muff was an amazing summer experience that brought us together for a whole new beginning, ready to take things as far as possible, transcending physical distance. Disciple & Punish is the evolution of that and that also comes with a bit of a different sound on each recording, some longer songs and a fervent desire to pursue what comes next, no matter what."

Adds Justin, "With this CD, we've just gone and made the music we've wanted to hear made all the years we've been together without any mind to what people at large want to hear or what sounds perfectly and fully formed on someone else's terms. It's a complete statement of everything we are."

Give the Jumping Bomb Girls a listen, and you'll be glad you did as they've crammed in more beauty and pathos and humor into one compact listening experience than you could imagined possible. And enjoy a double album you can hear from start to finish less time than it takes to do two 20-minute workouts and eat an enormous macaroon.

And as the JBGs themselves say when referring to something else, "Goodness is its own reward."

-Serene Dominic
(Author: Burt Bacharach Song by Song; Writer: New Times Publications, Detroit Metro Times, Zia Magazine, Creem Magazine) - My Tracks Music