When the Vaselines visited Los Angeles on a reunion tour last spring, guitarist-singer Eugene Kelly promised it wasn't a nostalgic trip. Nor was the cult low-fi band, beloved by critics and Nirvana's Kurt Cobain, simply out for an overdue pat on the back after releasing just one album in 1989. 

After all, in the years since Kelly's romantic relationship with his musical partner Frances McKee dissolved, a new crop of indie artists has  kept the Vaselines' scrappy and sometimes sloppy take on '60s garage rock alive. Our city's own Dum Dum Girls, for instance, sport a name that nods to either Iggy Pop or the Vaselines' one and only album, "Dum-Dum," depending upon your generational reference point. 

Sarcastic, and almost childishly obsessed with sex, the Vaselines fashioned beautifully simple melodies out of a mess of guitar and rudimentary electronics. Even when the band got serious, as it did on “Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam," a rewrite of a well-known Christian hymn, the band was looking ahead to adult life with skepticism. 

Revisiting the Vaselines with last year's Sub Pop compilation "Enter the Vaselines," it's not just music of a time and place, but of an age. But any doubts that Kelly and McKee could make relevant music more than 20 years on were somewhat put to rest today, when the band unleashed the free download "I Hate the '80s," the first single of its upcoming Sup Pop comeback effort "Sex With an X," due in September.  

Good news: The smart-aleck kids are now gleefully bitter adults, spitting on anyone with a sentimental yearning for days gone by with three-plus minutes of sunny, Velvet Underground-inspired jangly pop. There's perhaps some borderline tasteless lines, but the past is skewered with such a celebratory sweetness that the cold hearts of cynics everywhere will no doubt be warmed. 

Get it for free over here.

-- Todd Martens

Photo: Claire Stewart

The music of the Dum Dum Girls has always seemed built for black and white. Guitars are laced with a vinyl hiss, and vocals go down with an-on-the-rocks stiffness. The band's first single, "Jail La La," has been around a while, but it's never sounded -- or looked -- as good as it does in their video debut. 

With their black leather and black tights, the Dum Dum Girls carry an old-school look of rebellion, and they cop some "Wild Bunch" swagger as they cruise down what is presumably the West Coast in the clip. The song feels a bit on the verge of going out of control, with the verse hitting a sudden down-shift before skidding into what becomes a chorus that's equally vulnerable and unsentimental. "Someone tell my baby," sings Dee Dee (Kristin Gundred), "or else he won't know I need saving." But the song is off and running before anyone is catching up to her.

The band's Sub Pop debut, "I Will Be," will be in stores Tuesday. 

-- Todd Martens

The likes of Perez Hilton and Rachael Ray threw in-demand parties on the fourth and -- for all intents and purposes -- final day of the South by Southwest music conference and festival in Austin, Texas. With just under 2,000 bands, many of them on the hunt for next-big-thing status, plotting a show-going schedule can be an arduous task, and it's easy to see why designer quesadillas and flavored drinks can be a welcome distraction.  

Yet after the guest lists have been tossed and the music industry has retreated from the Texas capital, it won't be the VIP parties that made a lasting impression. It will be the artists. 

Los Angeles has a worthy contender in the Dum Dum Girls, the '60s-tinged fuzzed-out rockers who take old-fashioned melodies and make them streetwise tough. All sporting different variations of black, the Dum Dum Girls have a look that could be ripped from a vintage film noir poster, and a sound that mirrors that femme fatale image. 

Though based in L.A., the Dum Dum Girls have felt a bit like outsiders. The band's rapid ascent began last fall in New York at the CMJ Music Marathon, and their hometown shows have been few and far between. The band's first SXSW comes near the eve of the March 30 release of the act's Sub Pop debut, "I Will Be," and in Austin, the band was more assured, confident and simply downright cool than it had been at its smattering of L.A. gigs.  

Opening with a slowed down and droned-out version of the Rolling Stones' "Play With Fire," the Dum Dum Girls offered the song as if it was a dare. The band stood largely in place, with a glare affixed out above the audience, lending a detached, effortless and old-fashioned rebellious rock 'n' roll attitude to its songs. Girl group harmonies grace the racing "Bhang, Bhang, I'm a Burnout," and drummer Frankie Rose, ex-Vivian Girls (a more 21st century reference point for the group), brought a defiant kick to the more moderately paced "Rest of Our Lives." 

Time will tell if such vintage trappings have a life outside of SXSW. Yet even if the Dum Dum Girls tap a rock 'n' roll sound that may live outside the mainstream, it's one that never really goes out of style. And speaking of style, it probably won't have hurt that the Dum Dum Girls have it in spades. 

Other notes from Day 4 of SXSW:

 

DUM DUM GIRLS

Dum Dum Girls offer plenty of warnings to any would-be listeners, at least if one is to judge by the songs available on the act’s MySpace page. The band's choice of covers -- the Rolling Stones' "Play With Fire" and GG Allin's "Don't Talk to Me" -- aren't the most open-armed of songs, and the group cements its don't-mess-with-us strut with an original titled "Jail La La."

Led by Kristin Gundred (a.k.a. Dee Dee), the L.A.-based band taps an old-fashioned sort of rebellion, one where a leather jacket and black tights are enough to signal outsider status. Sleazy, scruffy and fast, Dum Dum Girls will release its debut, "I Will Be," on March 30 via Seattle's Sub Pop.

Containing 11 songs and running just under 30 minutes, the album was produced by Richard Gottehrer, who shares a songwriting credit on the '60s hit "My Boyfriend's Back." That's no coincidence.

With a name that references songs from Iggy Pop and underground heroes the Vaselines, Dum Dum Girls has a sound that falls somewhere in between the early punk of the former and the slacker haze of the latter. Melodies take shape out of a gloomy guitar drone, as if they just sort of accidentally happen, and Gundred's vocals stay behind the beat and buried under the riffs.

It's a matter-of-fact, deadpan delivery, and when the backing harmonies kick in, Gundren sounds as if she's channeling the ghosts of girl groups past.

-- Todd Martens 

More Faces:

Faces to Watch in 2010: Architecture

Faces to Watch in 2010: Theater

Faces to watch in 2010: Classical

Faces to watch 2010: Scott Amendola

Faces to watch 2010: The Living Sisters

Faces to watch 2010: Ke$ha

Faces to watch 2010: The Soft Pack

Faces of 2010: Entertainment (film, music, TV, new media)

Photo: Lauren Dukoff

Although Thanksgiving isn't traditionally a rock 'n' roll holiday -- Beyonce's ABC television special notwithstanding -- there are a couple of strong music options over the next few days, at least for those who can escape the family duties.

Japandroids at the Echo. "Let's get to France," the duo of Brian King and David Prowse holler in "Wet Hair," kicking up a racket of guitar-and-drum noise. The pounding rhythms and distortion-drenched riffs may hint at a garage-punk anthem about escaping their Vancouver, Canada, homes for Europe, but it's really just youthful longing that permeates the songs of the Japandroids. What's in France? "French girls." Loud and fast, the Japandroids at times recall the early '90s with their low-fi, scuzzy-sounding anthems, but once one adjusts to the rush, there's brisk hooks and sharp one-liners to be found beneath the thundering notes. On "Heart Sweats," for instance, King yowls, "You're such a mess," through gritted teeth, all while the song threatens to devolve into one. But his put-downs are researched. "I should know; I used to date a stylist." The Echo, 1822 W. Sunset Blvd. Tickets are $10. 

Our highfalutin artsy friends at Culture Monster will be spending Saturday night at the Museum of Contemporary Art to take in Lady Gaga, and while we're down with her performance art put-ons, drinking fancy colorful drinks loaded with vodka just doesn't seem right when there's a whole festival dedicated to craft beer happening in Hollywood.

Add in the Dum Dum Girls, and the Hollywood Brew Fest at the Blue Palms Brewhouse/Henry Fonda Theater seems far and away the best bet for the evening. There isn't too much known about the Dum Dum Girls; the recent Sub Pop signees have maintained an aura of mystery thus far. Essentially the project of  Kristin Gundred, who's going by the name Dee Dee in this outfit, the Dum Dum Girls will release their debut album at some point in 2010, although Sub Pop doesn't have a release date yet.

Yet if it's anything like the roughly shot Internet videos rolling around, expect some slightly sleezy, heavily distorted, fast and scruffy melodies. Hooks are buried in shots of hazy guitar tones, and there's a sinister streak that reveals itself via Gundred's sweetly deadpan delivery. Frankie Rose, former Vivian Girl, has been manning the drums for the group. That act is the most recent reference point for the Dum Dum Girls, while the Vaselines are perhaps the most obvious and the subtle hints of girl group malice would be the starting point. 

Watch a clip of the band performing at New York's recent CMJ conference below: