SadGirl

There’s an enclave of the punk world where the music still sounds like an austere distillation of America’s forlorn dream. It’s the sound of an old jukebox spinning a Ronettes 45 through a broken speaker, the kid in the garage figuring out the 1-4-5 progression on guitar, the thump of the kick drum banging in 4/4 time through a dilapidated PA. LA’s SadGirl sound a lot those early American punks—the miscreants that preceded the nihilists. Their songs sound more rooted in the wake of Motor City soul and Pacific Northwest surf rock than in the formula laid out by The Ramones, but there is still something in their reverb-and-tremolo pop that feels like a reminder of America’s decay.