Female Demand, Female Demand

Of the four tracks on Female Demand’s self-titled EP, the one that hits the hardest is the opener, “Sweet Nothing” — it starts off with almost wah-wah-sounding bass and stuttering, barely-restrained drums, then stomps its way into two minutes and change of driving, thundering, bass-and-drums instrumental rawk, leaning heavily towards the sludgy, garage-y side of things. The sound swings between noisy, punkish blues, stoner-esque metal, and an almost prog-funky vibe, if you can believe it, and the result is something like a loose, angry-drunk, alternate-universe version of Dub Trio, or maybe Jucifer rocking a dance party without the vocals. Put it all together, and it’s a hell of a ride, especially for a two-man outfit.

The band slows things down somewhat for “I Thought I Told You…,” and on first listen my heart sank, figuring the FD duo had done the inevitable and, y’know, toned things down for the record. Happily, they step back in after the mid-tempo intro, kicking and punching their way through the remainder of the track while riding a sing-song-y riff — it feels weird to say that, I know, about a vocal-less instrumental, but Bradley Muñoz’s bass at one point sound like it’s taunting the listener, daring ’em to make something of it. “Skies Are Falling” is even more fuzzed-out and crunchy-sounding (a good thing, in my book), with drummer Jonathan Perez hammering away at his drums like he’s trying to crack the ground below his kit wide, wide open. For final track “Like Catching Butterflies,” the duo delve a bit deeper into footpedals-and-laptops territory, letting Perez manipulate stretch his bass sound out to infinity and then launch it into space.

If there’s a quibble to be made about this, it’s that I honestly wanted to hear it louder — messier, more raw, more overdriven, so loud the speakers start to crackle. The bass sounded nicely grimy, but I wanted the drums right down in the muck with it, dirtied up and boomy, like, say, the way the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion’s Russell Simins sounds on “Sweat.” Muñoz and Perez pull it off on “Sweet Nothing,” but not really on any of the other tracks on the EP.

The kind of noise Female Demand makes really shouldn’t be cleaned up, not one bit; it should make you feel like the band’s playing right on either side of your head. (And yes, I did turn the damn thing up ’til my ears nearly bled.) ‘Til that happens, this is no replacement for seeing the band explode live on stage…but hey, it’s a damn good start.