Humanimals

When Kristin Gundred, the lead vocalist of Grand Old Party lets loose with one of her primal blues wails, strong men salivate and weak crawl, as Gundred herself boasts on "Look Out Young Son", the opening track of Humanimals. "I must be the devil's daughter," she sings in a sexy, no holds barred tone, before declaring -- "Look out young son, when I bloom you'll come a crawlin'." Grand Ole Party is what used to be called a power trio; Gundred on vocals and drums, dropping a solid, basic heart-thumping groove, Mike Kerchnyak keeping the beat moving forward with his propulsive bass lines and Paul Labno on guitar alternating between short tasty lead lines and clanging, funky comped chords. There isn't a trace of indie rock pretense nor any art rock poses, just solid blues based tunes, driven by Labno's ability to add dramatic guitar flourishes that impress without overwhelming the arrangements and Gundred's voice, a one in a million howl that calls to mind everyone from Mae West, to Bessie Smith, Grace Slick and of course, Janis Joplin. And while she does posses Joplin's ability to send chills down your spine, her voice is smoother and lighter, although it can still slash like a razor. The band gets co-writing credit for all the tunes, and while they almost always stay within the parameters of your basic two minute and 30 second commercial rock tune, there's plenty of variety here. -allmusic.com