Reviewed by Kit Burns
Waxapples/Glitter & Grime
Just when you think you have Waxapples pegged, they surprise you.
Glitter & Grime is an apt title for a record that is both dirty and beautiful. Guitars crunch and roar in trademark post-grunge style but are then boxed in delicious pop candy that shouldn’t mesh with the racket surrounding it. Somehow the rock and the pop live in peace; in fact, they have wonderful chemistry together. “Forget You” is a pointed break-up song that sounds like Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots fronting the Foo Fighters. “Over Again” is power pop with a serrated edge. And, after that, you think that you have predicted where Waxapples would venture from there.
Not so fast.
“Cheap” echoes the New Wave thrills of vintage Blondie (or, for a more recent comparison, try No Doubt) while “Hollywood” and especially “Jackson” recall the liquor-laced L.A. punk rock of X. Towards the end of the record, Waxapples are trying on all sorts of shoes, from the spare folk of “Look Out” to the ’80s spandex metal riffing of “Tush.” It’s all quite delightful, especially the vocal interplay of Brian and Jamie Sims Coakley.
