Oregon Music News

The debut album, On Blonde, from local act Black Pussy arrived with the subtlety of a ’69 Chevelle SS with a bad tail pipe. Whatever the meaning of the band’s moniker, one thing is for sure: It’s not thinking man’s music and it doesn’t pretend to be. On Blonde features six tracks that lean heavily on sloppy, stripped down, fuzzy rock ‘n’ roll like it’s the 1970s.

On Blonde

The lyrical content touches on everything that you’d expect–sex, drugs, more sex, and rock ‘n’ roll–and comes as no surprise from a band that lists their inspirations as weed, wine and women, not necessarily in that order.

Black Pussy features White Orange’s Dustin Hill, who is no stranger to the Portland stoner-rock scene. With Black Pussy, Hill takes a sonic detour from White Orange; Black Pussy fuses melody and heavy rock without commercializing the sound. This is best demonstrated in the song “Marijuana,” which kicks off the six-track opus.

The chorus is monotonous, pretentious and out of key, but I’ll be damned if it doesn’t wear a groove into your brain. “Marijuana” and “Ain’t Talkin’ About Love” are the standout tracks, the latter of which is not a cover of the Van Halen classic. “Ain’t Talkin’ About Love” is a sludgy, disordered throwback that will transport you to a time when lava lamps and black lights reigned supreme.

On Blonde is full of rebellious attitude, loud, obnoxious, distorted guitars, and memorable hooks. The Portland sextet didn’t knock it out of the park with On Blonde, but there’s enough there to make it worth an investment of your hard-earned money. Might I suggest a title for the next album? How about Contact High?

You don’t have to give On Blonde a try, but it’d be a lot cooler if you did:

Black Pussy will celebrate the release of On Blonde at the Ash Street Saloon on Saturday, February 11th.