Peep on Pop- The Babies

The Babies- The Babies (Shrimper- 2011)

~by Gabe McBride

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The Babies is a Brooklyn “supergroup” of sorts, featuring Cassie Ramone of Vivian Girls and Kevin Morby of Woods. It’s not hard to hear the mash up of two bands on The Babies, as Ramone’s distinctive, off-kilter vocals and Morby’s chugging but gauzy garage guitar riffage blend to create what could just as easily been called Vivianwoods, or Woodgirls, or… well, you get the point. 

Unfortunately, not all songs on the album are created equal. The Babies' best songs (‘Meet me in the City’, ‘Breakin’ the Law’) feel fresh, loose, and vital. When the band is really hitting their spots, with Ramone and Morby’s vocals interweaving, they sound not just a little like Black Francis and Kim Deal (think ‘Hey’ off of Doolittle) and the Stones. The album is solid, but not exactly spectacular at all times, and when it fails, it doesn’t exactly do so miserably, just kinda meh-ly. The ninth track on the album, Wild 1, sums this problem up succinctly, for better or worse. The song begins with fuzzy, hazy guitars backing up Ramone’s singing, to great effect, until the guitar reaches an unnecessarily noisy, out of tune crescendo, only to slip back into the ultimately more successful opening. It turns out, The Babies is only 2/3 a good (not great) album that hints that it could have been more. 

For Fans of: Tiger Trap, Velocity Girl, Pixies