"the girls / unique versions / in their mixed up worlds / finely tuned animals / don't believe the things you've heard..."
The beautiful pop darkness / subversive social commentary of "The Girls" by Detroit, Michigan's Matthew Smith Group, musically dressed up in 60's chamber pop adornments and DIY indie-ness like a collision of The Beach Boys, The Cure, Guided by Voices, Cocteau Twins (or thereabouts), cajoles and takes your hands for a spirited dance around psychedelic pop trees until you start to notice the lyrical fruit rotting and falling to the ground. I have to be honest, I didn't notice the brutal honesty here at first. It took me awhile and when I grasped the social commentary, it triggered some hard realities.
Those realities about what girls have to confront in a world of men who are all too often bad actors, predatory and simply fucked up started reeling in my brain. The indie rock / punk broken moral scenes primarily from 2012 to 2020 with horrible allegations from sexual grooming to rape of a long list of artists from Ryan Adams, Ariel Pink, SWMRS, The Growlers, The Buttertones, Audacity, Part Time, Black Lips, Cosmonauts, No Parents, Love Cop, The Frights, Bad Bunny, PWR BTTM, Starcrawler, Anti-Flag and more, as well as tastemaker labels (of all genres) accused of direct involvement or turning a blind eye. Those under the accusatory spotlight included
Burger Records, Epic Records, Def Jam Records, Republic Records, Mexican Summer, Goner Records and more. Do I know what allegations were on point and which were misplaced, I do not. Do I know if some of the agency on display was weaponized, I do not but the black stain thrust on music scenes obliterated them and shed light on the moral implications that extend way beyond the arts.
Burger Records, Epic Records, Def Jam Records, Republic Records, Mexican Summer, Goner Records and more. Do I know what allegations were on point and which were misplaced, I do not. Do I know if some of the agency on display was weaponized, I do not but the black stain thrust on music scenes obliterated them and shed light on the moral implications that extend way beyond the arts.
The social commentary sights of "The Girls" hit me in other personal ways as someone who followed local music scenes intently. Suffice it to say, rape culture is a real thing and to think that we have political leaders from local governments to the white house who are part of that culture makes my skin crawl. Once upon a time I thought that us artists were cut from a different cloth but I guess not and it, for some reason, seems worse when indie musicians succumb to vile part of maleness I thought was reserved for dumb jocks. But maybe this corruption was normalized from the onset, Elvis was dating a 14 year old and the Beatles sang about underage girls.
Anyway, I appreciate what Matthew Smith Group is doing here or what I think they are doing here. Us men, we are not all bad, just many of us. I will leave the lyrics here, at least, the ones I am hearing.
Oh, yeah, release the Epstein Files muther fuckers.
-Robb Donker Curtius
Lyrics
the girls
unique versions
in their mixed up worlds
finely tuned animals
don't believe the things you've heard
psychoanalysts may scramble
predatory orators may ramble
toward the girls
in an endless gamble
the girls
with their dreams destroyed
but tougher than you know
side by side
you want to be as one
with something
there you go
more about it than the rest
to hear tales of violence
and incest
it's the girls
the film noir
they are images at best
you won't like it when
her eyes are beaming emptiness
but the price was paid
the silent screams of less and less
now the girls
take your memory apart
until you find them again
suffering
things
no one else can hear
now and then
do they make you who you are
the ideal from which you strayed too far
it's the girls
laughing inside
cuz everyone's a star
the girls
laughing inside
cuz everyone's a star
everyone's a star
everyone's a star
everyone's a star
LINER NOTES: (excerpted / bracketed):
[Matthew Smith Group is the forthcoming album by the ex-Outrageous Cherry songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist. His previous band's explorations of psychedelia, folk rock, art rock, and bubblegum music span more than 12 albums over nearly three decades. . Outrageous Cherry attracted an international cult following and was a fixture in Detroit's underground art and music culture, but the band ended in 2017 with the passing of lead guitarist Larry Ray.
Matthew's new group features Outrageous Cherry's rhythm section of Colleen Burke (We Ragazzi, Smog) on bass and Maria Nuccilli (Deadbeat Beat) on drums, lead guitarist Ava East (Shadow Show), avant-electronic improviser Chris Pottinger (Cotton Museum, Odd Clouds, Slither) on Moog synthesizer, and avant-jazz composer/instrumentalist Molly Jones on saxophone.]
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://www.facebook.com/matthewsmithgroup/
https://matthewsmithgroup.bandcamp.com/album/the-ruined-metropolis-broken-minds
https://www.instagram.com/talltexanrecords/?hl=en
https://talltexan.bigcartel.com/product/matthew-smith-group-matthew-smih-group-lp
Matthew Smith Group is the forthcoming album by the ex-Outrageous Cherry songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist. His previous band's explorations of psychedelia, folk rock, art rock, and bubblegum music span more than 12 albums over nearly three decades. . Outrageous Cherry attracted an international cult following and was a fixture in Detroit's underground art and music culture, but the band ended in 2017 with the passing of lead guitarist Larry Ray.
Matthew's new group features Outrageous Cherry's rhythm section of Colleen Burke (We Ragazzi, Smog) on bass and Maria Nuccilli (Deadbeat Beat) on drums, lead guitarist Ava East (Shadow Show), avant-electronic improviser Chris Pottinger (Cotton Museum, Odd Clouds, Slither) on Moog synthesizer, and avant-jazz composer/instrumentalist Molly Jones on saxophone.
Matthew Smith Group is the forthcoming album by the ex-Outrageous Cherry songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist. His previous band's explorations of psychedelia, folk rock, art rock, and bubblegum music span more than 12 albums over nearly three decades. . Outrageous Cherry attracted an international cult following and was a fixture in Detroit's underground art and music culture, but the band ended in 2017 with the passing of lead guitarist Larry Ray.
Matthew's new group features Outrageous Cherry's rhythm section of Colleen Burke (We Ragazzi, Smog) on bass and Maria Nuccilli (Deadbeat Beat) on drums, lead guitarist Ava East (Shadow Show), avant-electronic improviser Chris Pottinger (Cotton Museum, Odd Clouds, Slither) on Moog synthesizer, and avant-jazz composer/instrumentalist Molly Jones on saxophone.
Matthew Smith Group, psychedelic rock, indie rock, indie pop, post punk, folk, art rock, bubblegum, ex Outrageous Cherry songwriter. lead singer, guitarist, 5 piece collaborators, 6 piece band, single "The Girls",
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