Let's Get It On (Whip It On - Raveonettes)

Member Name: Hunting_Bears

Product:	Whip It On - Raveonettes
Date:	30/10/03 (84 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: cool tunes, sharin foo is a Scandanavian goddess, great musical image

Disadvantages: none

'The Raveonettes' pronounced 'Rave-on-ettes' are a great unique band. I first heard them early this year on a compilation c.d. and the track 'Beat City' was stuck in my head for days. I bought their mini album 'Whip it On' and I have to say its one of damned coolest albums I have listened since Sonic Youth's 'Dirt'.

The band consists of Sune Rose Wagner (vocals and guitar) and the absolutely gorgeous Sharin Foo (vocals and bass), the band use a drum machine. The music is garage pop it's loud but very melodic. The band seemed to be obsessed with 1950's American pop culture. Don't let that put you off because it's not done in a cheesy way. The band sounds like a fusion of Phil Spector, Buddy Holly and punk rock. Even that description does not do justice to the band.

Hailing from Denmark the album 'Whip it On' was written when Sune Rose Wagner travelled across America in the late 1990's. When he got back to Denmark he noticed that the national music needed a kick up the ass. He joined forces with Sharin Foo and the rest is history. I saw this band perform live on 28th October 2003 and I must say they rock big time.

WHIP IT ON

1. Attack of the Ghost Riders

The album opener is a noisy feedback number with lyrics like 'Lipstick on my face, thunder in the sky, the shades are drawn but don't ask me why?' Being Danish the lyrics are a little odd but they do sound cool when Sune and Sharin sing in a cool seductive manner.

2. Veronica Fever

A thumping bass opens the song and again is drenched in a coolness that only seriously cool people can manage. I have no idea what the song is about something but lyrics like 'chain gangs of love' and 'You do it all the time' suggest its about a relationship or woman. Again lots of feedback with a melody to die for.

3. Do You Believe Her
r>My god this song is so catchy. It is a pure punk pop number that thrashes about and is basically two minutes of great music. 'Do you believe her when she says she loves you? Do you believe her is this for real?' There is also a cool Japanese sounding sample on this track that sounds like somebody saying 'Honey'. This is my favourite number on the album.

4. Chains

My second favourite song on the album is this slower but still feedback heavy, bass-thumping tune on the dangers of dangerous women. The lyrics are amazing in a cool 1950's Beat generation type way. It lists women like 'Dangerous Dorothy, delinquent girl' and 'Heartbreak Anne'.

5. Cops on Our Tail

Another thrashing fast paced number about criminals speeding through the desert with John Q. Law after them. 'Come through the desert its all right, come through the desert its all right, we will go to the place where all the lights shine on'. 'Cops on out tail but that's all right'. The album is kind of a concept of a foreign person's idea of America, it's about love, death, cars, dangerous women and drugs.

6. My Tornado

A slow number that is the only weak song, for some reason I don't like it and it let's the album down a bit in my view. After 'Cops', it feels too slow and boring. It still sounds sexy and cool but I am not a big fan of this particular number.

7. Bowels of the Beast

This song was written in Las Vegas and its pretty obvious that Sune doesn't think much of it. The guitar riff is superb and heavy, its could almost be a Black Sabbath riff. If you listen to this song on full volume the feedback and experience of the song is amazing. "You'll find me in the bowels of the beast". It is the slowest song on the album but the heaviest.

8. Beat City


What a superb way to finish off a debut al
bum. The song is a paean to everything that is cool about 1950's American culture. The song is fast and melodic but it's the lyrics that make this song great; "Gonna die in Beat City, go run, run, run gonna hang with girls and shoot my gun, gonna catch the rays off the sun, gonna drink and drive and have some fun'. The feedback at the end clashes with the instruments to induce a noise so great that it could make your head explode. A classic song.


'The Raveonettes' are not a huge band and I hope they never are, to remain a cult hit would help keep their integrity and make them a classic band. Not bad for a band that use three chords and play every song in the key of B. The lead guitar playing is simple but it sounds fucking cool. Enjoy!