Lost Control

Album Review

The Giles sisters have been making peppy pop-punk music together as Dog Party since they were little kids. Now guitarist Gwendolyn is 17 and drummer Lucy is 14 and their music has taken a nice leap from enthusiastic and fun to something a little louder, a little tighter, and a lot more exciting. The duo's third album, Lost Control, is their first for a bigger label, Asian Man, and it's produced by Sacramento punk mainstay Chris Woodhouse. He helps give the girls a bigger, more impressively noisy sound, but the real improvement comes from the sisters themselves. They've upped the songwriting stakes, added some muscle to their playing, and their voices sound more mature and powerful. This jump in quality makes Lost Control a short and snappy pop treat that will have fans of classic girl pop bands like Cub and Tiger Trap feeling nostalgic. Sneak "Jet Pack" onto a March Records comp from 1998 and it would totally fit. The album will make fans of short snappy punk happy too. Along with the sugar-sweet melodies and teen-crush lyrics, there is plenty of snarl and spit involved. From the gnarly crunch of the guitars to the sneer Gwendolyn gives the songs about dumb boys and crappy romance to Lucy's steady backbeat, the duo generates plenty of punk energy. The ferocious cover of X's "Los Angeles" establishes their real punk credentials right away. Worries about cred seem kind of pointless when the album is so much fun from start to finish. Dog Party may be music biz vets already, but this is their true coming-of-age moment and anyone interested in punky pop (or poppy punk if you prefer to look at it that way) should seek out Lost Control right away and stay tuned to see what the Giles sisters do in the future.