The Michigan Daily discovered in November 2004 that several articles written by arts editor Alex Wolsky did not meet the newspaper’s standard of ethical journalism. Parts of these stories had been plagiarized from other news sources. Although the article below has not been found to contain plagiarism, the Daily no longer stands by its content. For details, see the Daily’s editorial.
- Mira Levitan
From beneath the shadows of pure-pop music, lies power-pop a genre for punks laced with mass appeal. As one of many bands that have emerged at the forefront of the genre, Dressy Bessy has released their latest self-titled album from Kindercore records. Through a quick 35 minutes and eleven tracks, Dressy Bessy incorporate the modern sounds of Saturday Looks Good to Me to classic power-pop founders the Ramones and Blondie.
Group leader Tammy Ealom lets her voice ring true throughout the album, allowing her sensual, sugar-coated, brooding voice to linger over the bands stripped-down sound. “Baby Six String” and “New Song (From Me to You)” exemplify the band’s pop roots, while throughout the album they consistently flip it over and rock out, as seen best on “This May Hurt (A Little)” a bittersweet song, ripped from the heart of Ealom.
In the end, Dressy Bessy is a solid addition to an already brimming genre; however it shows the band retracting from the sound that once made them so popular. From start to finish, it seems that they’re dancing between the self-actualization of being a simple pop band and some other side that’s constantly attempting to prove that they’re something more. All in all, it’s a fun record, nothing more.
Rating: 3 stars.