One of my sadly underrepresented in Jams of the Day favorite types of jams is the male / female guitar and drums duo — whether they’re playing dreamy indie electrono-pop like Beach House or Wye Oak, or they’re freaking out like Bruiser Queen in “On The Radio”. I love that kind of electrono-pop a lot, but I think I love the Riot Grrrl flavor of Bruiser Queen even more: this song clocks in at just under three minutes, Morgan Nusbaum’s vocals go flat out for all of it with just the best hint of what she could also do with my beloved ’60s girl group vocals, the guitar and drums scramble to race each other to the end, and I listened to it for half an hour straight yesterday afternoon.
It’s like so much of my other favorite music this year — “On The Radio” reminds me a whole lot of Ex Hex’s Rips — in that it takes no prisoners, makes no mistakes about what it is, and just lays it out on the line. If Bruiser Queen is half as fun in person (and I bet they’re more than that) as they are on this track, I can’t wait to see them live.