rave reviews: bridez, hard place, passionistas

The World Famous offices have been filled with laughter over the past few days since we saw these two reviews pop up in Still Single: Vol. 5, No. 1 by Doug Mosurak over at Dusted Magazine.

First a review of the BRIDEZ seven inch:

Cruddy no-fi rock aping Royal Trux but getting stuck somewhere in between Be Your Own Pet and bratty trust-fund kids slumming it. Singer Liza Thorn was once in So So Many White White Tigers, a decent enough band that should have stuck around for longer, for they were far more interesting than either track presented here. If you were DYING to hear some rock music, like you were about to expire due to dehydration and this record was the antidote, then I suppose you’d have an excuse to jam it. Not me. What did anyone hear in this that made them think “hey, I’d better press this up?”

And now the review of the Hard Place/Passionistas split EP:

Bay Area split single combines harmless, innocuous, passable bedroom pop by teen neons, the Passionistas, with the tacky, slick electro-crap of Hard Place (the poor man’s Ssion, maybe a homeless man’s Sparks). Never would there have been a point in my life where I would have considered purchasing such a record as this, so if you think like I do, best to bail out, now.

At World Famous we believe that Love and Hate are two sides of the same coin and a review is good whether it moves you to sing its praises or to spew bile all over the place. In fact, we love a bad review, and these were particularly entertaining (seriously, we may refer to Hard Place as “the homeless man’s sparks” from now on). Thanks Doug!!

We mentioned that Love and Hate were two sides of the same coin, so here’s some very nice reviews from our friends over at Aquarius Records

First the BRIDEZ seven inch:

Bridez front woman, and the cover star of this here 7″ single, is none other then Liza Thorn, who was responsible for unleashing a thrilling and damaging whirlwind of fierce energy here in the Bay Area with her previous band So So Many White White Tigers. While Bridez is a much more song based endeavor, there is still that reckless energy and dirty quality to their songs that makes this such a fun, fiery and righteously sleazy debut. We hear healthy doses of Pussy Galore, early Hole and the early recordings of The Runaways. Bringing a much needed element of danger and drunken passion to fucked up rock n’ roll. So good!

Now the Hard Place/Passionistas split EP:

The Passionistas have been gaining some well deserved attention here in SF with their super catchy and colorful pop hooks, dipping their musical toes into both power pop and glam, providing the missing link between Big Star and Sparks. Speaking of Sparks, Hard Place open their side of this split with a very Sparks influenced and triumphant sounding pop nugget. There’s a very early ’80s larger-than-life, arena-ready aesthetic to their sound, yet it’s delivered with such earnest spirit. We suspect there is some Van Halen, Andrew W.K. and maybe even a Jefferson Starship record in their collections. We lean a little towards The Passionistas on this split, but pop enthusiasts will find lots to like on both sides of this little piece of wax.

Also, the folks over at The Bay Bridged liked “Righter’s Block” block by The Passionistas enough to include it in their monthly mix, so be sure to check that out as well.

But why rely on reviews? Take a listen below and make up your mind yourself. If you like it, the records are available from Aquarius or can be ordered directly from us:

Buy BRIDEZ
Buy Hard Place/Passionistas

Download it! BRIDEZ – Rolling Stoned

Download it! The Passionistas – Righter’s Block

Download it! Hard Place – Bon Vivant (Totally Rad!! Remix)