Deap Vally
Get Deap EP
Cherrytree/Interscope Records
Street: 04.09
Deap Vally = Janis Joplin x (Alabama Shakes + Wolf Mother)
Deap Vally’s first EP sounds like a shitty version of Dead Weather. Comparisons to Allison Mosshart are tough not to make, but Deap Vally doesn’t dig close to as deap (ha!) into the gritty acid-blues genre. Riffs on “Brother, brother, brother” are boring and uninteresting, while vocals are vigorous but sound terrible. “Gonna Make My Own Money” features some good ol’ gutter blues with scratchy, wild vocals that don’t fit the simple, distorted guitar riff. “End of the World” has a decent vocal melody that’s quickly lost behind more stupid guitar riffs. “Ain’t Fair” ain’t good either, and describes how I felt after listening to this (I have to listen to this again? That ain’t fair!). If there’s a saving grace, it’s that there are some big sounds coming from this two-woman team, and they’ve got a dynamic energy. Some guitar lessons and focus would probably put this band into the “listenable” category. –CJ Morgan