Rips

What a year to have finally gotten some killer new music. I was first turned on to Mary Timony while in the band Wild Flag, which is a good album in its own right. But now she drops Ex Hex on to the world and makes it a blast to listen to new music again! I find it pretty cool that Mary attended the Duke Ellington School of Arts and actually has played guitar in jazz bands when younger. So no doubt we have the real deal here! This album simply RIPS from start to finish with one powerhouse catchy song after the other. My favorites are Don't Wanna Lose Your Love, Beast, Waterfall, Radio On, and War Paint, but just a bad ass rock n roll album start to finish! The sound of the vinyl is really good and in my opinion is the format to go if you are in to vinyl, all though I am not saying anything negative about the cd. As I mentioned on the title of this review, this is my second favorite album of the year next to the incredible Black Moon Spell by King Tuff which is my favorite. These two acts are playing some select shows together and I for one will be at the legendary 40 Watt Club in Athens next month to rock out with my new favs! Ex Hex is the real deal and it sure is cool to have a big smile on my face while rocking out to one of the coolest bands to come around in some time. Nothing fancy here, just good old fashion PUNKED UP ROCK n ROLL!!!!!

Easily my favorite (rock & roll) album of the year (it was released). I couldn't get enough of this hard driving, crunchy, guitar driven, catchy album. I listened to it over and over upon first getting it. I still love it, but need to give it a break. Some might call it power pop punk or something like that. To me, it's just solid rock & roll. Really catchy, simple guitar solos too. Love the whole album.

I had seen them on last call with Carson Daly, and I just had to find out more about them. And glad I did. They're an awesome trio. Glad I bought all of their CD's. Awesome performance.

Any Mary Timony project takes a while to fully digest and appreciate. Like a female Mike Patton, she tends to veer in style from project to project, and sometimes within the very same project (see how Helium started off as low-fi sludgy grunge and ended up as indie alt-prog). So, it's no surprise Ex Hex, Mary's latest project, sounds nothing like Helium ... or her solo material ... or Wild Flag. Gone are the complex arrangements, oblique lyrics, and melodies that had more twists and turns than a mountain road. The music here is straight-forward, an indie garage rock power trio. Think Weezer, only less naval-gazing and more dirty. Musically, the songs are tight and punchy, full of hooks to keep you listening, and Mary's signature voice is as dry and crackling as ever. But this is a case where her history is working against her. The one thing all of her past projects had was complexity; even if Helium's "Pirate Prude" and her solo album "Mountains" sounded NOTHING alike, they both had a rich, deep complexity to them. Even Wild Flag, which was basically Sleater-Timony, still had some depth. Ex Hex is all right out in the open, heart on the sleeve. After almost twenty years of being one of indie rock's premier boundary pushers, Ex Hex is remarkable for abandoning all of this. And it is this repudiation of her history and base tendencies that make "Rips", perhaps paradoxically, hard to get into; you keep looking for the depth, the twists, the peculiarities that are her hallmark, and they aren't there. It is as straight-forward and economically done as possible, and that's so NOT Mary Timony that you can't help but wonder if this is the work of an evil genius intent on keeping you guessing, or a half-hearted, under-cooked side project meant to keep busy. It's never bad - Mary may be incapable of turning out a bad album - but you may never be sure if she's leaving you wanting more on purpose or accident.

Excellent rock 'n roll. Highly recommended. Not a bad track in the bunch.

This record is as good, if not better, than the Wild Flag record, and I really loved the Wild Flag record. I have actually never listened to any of Timony's other bands, but after listening to "Rips" I intend to correct that mistake.

The Rips album is now my favorite of Mary Timony's work. Not quite as downbeat plus more variety in guitar styles and vocals. The trio work really together and I hope they continue for another album.

This totally has an 80s rock vibe for me with just a little more crunch. I usually prefer raspier vocals with this kind of guitar sound but there's something about that makes is work. Catchy stuff and hard to shut off.