Review of Violent Femmes (The Violent Femmes)

Violent Femmes is the self-titled first release of the band which gave birth to the folk-punk genre. The album is notable for mixing the sounds of American folk and proto-punk into a heavy, whirling mass of folk noise. The band consisted, at the time, of Gordon Gano (Guitar, Violin, Lead Vocals), Brian Ritchie (Acoustic Bass, Electric Bass, Xylophone, Vocals), and Victor Lorenzo (Percussion). Mark Van Hecke played piano on the track "Good Feeling."

It took me a long time to get into this album. For most of my listening life, I've always sort of ignored this album, preferring to it the fifth release, "Why Do Birds Sing?". In retrospect, this was unfair. This album was partially responsible for folk-punk, one of my favourite genres, and the music is reflective of the experimentalism of what I now consider to be standard fare. There is terrific energy on the album, especially in songs like "Blister In The Sun" (the one that everybody knows) and "Prove My Love" (probably less well-known). The work of this band also leads into the Low-Fi genre, tidbits of which can be heard across the album.

Earlier this year, when I was young and foolish (haha), I thought this album was kind of boring and, as I said, I skipped over it. There's not much negative say about the album, except that it might be a tad weird for some people. It's definitely not your average alternative rock, it's drug inspired (occasionally feverishly so) and discordant at times, and unless you're up for something a little different, you probably won't like this. Of course, if you're not up for something a little different, chances are you won't even be reading this review.

This album has so much going for it, and so little taking away from that, it would be a shame if you didn't listen to it. So get on it already, eh?