I first stumbled onto Austin band Sailor Poon via a track named “Leather Daddy,” featuring a shout-along chorus that goes: “Eat me out / Buy Me Shoes / Make Me Cum / And then please leave!”
Complete with their eye-catching name (which riffs on the ’90s anime Sailor Moon), it’s hard to ignore the all-female five-piece’s face-slappingly fresh attitude. As a result, I was very excited to see their first album, aptly named Sailor Poon’s First Album, drop last week.
In an interview with the Statesmen News Network, keyboardist Sarah Cuk indicates that the band tries to touch on a lot of different genres, while also making fun of them. Indeed, this playful spirit has permeated their full-length debut.
Opening track, “Be My Dog,” begins with a guttural groan before lurching into a heavy guitar and keyboard riff that sounds like the Doors ambushed by Bikini Kill. The tone is set: this is going to be loud, noisy and a little clunky.
Proudly feminist, with a kinky sense of humor (see: “The Post Penetration Appreciation Society”), it’s such a shame this album was released during the lockdown, as these songs are made to be rocked out to in a crowded, sweaty mosh pit.
On the back-to-back standouts “Pointy Boots” and “She Farts like a Motorcycle,” singer Billie Buck sounds a near dead ringer for Kathleen Hanna, alongside a keyboard line that the Monks would be proud of.
Part of the band’s sound is Buck’s saxophone, which gets a tongue-in-cheek shoutout on the a brief Captain Beefheart-indebted track “New York’s All Right If You Like Saxophones.”
Some of the shorter tracks don’t work as well as others, but what they lack in refined edges they make up for with raw, live energy and their pure attitude. Loud and in your face, Sailor Poon could become the face of the modern riot grrrl movement with their sarcasm, brashness and third-wave confidence.
If nothing else, these five women are out to have fun and suffocate you with noise, and they couldn’t give a fuck if you want to join in or not. Deal with it.
Score: ⚓️⚓️⚓️⚓️ / 5
Brendan is an avid record collector from Adelaide, Australia and the man behind the @ridges_and_grooves. There are few genres he won’t listen to. His search for the best album of all time through process of elimination continues.