The mysterious M. Remy, infatuation at it's finest. This is nothing new, I was a fan of her band Hustler White, long before I shared any small shred of correspondence, long before "U.S Girls" and long before she dedicated her Springsteen cover, citing me as "groovy", an adjective that throws me for a loop, and from anyone else, would not feel at all that special, but from her, feels legitimate and prompts an embarrassing blush. Luckily, I was sitting in a dark art gallery, and she wasn't looking up at the time. Secrets are safe, and that's quite a relief.
A couple of LPs, a few singles and compilation slots, she has offered generous portions under the U.S. GIRLS moniker, and while some helpings are more instantly satisfying than others, new output is always exciting: "Have to have it", that sort of thing. Each piece is a vehicle for a simple "song", or at least a series of phrases which would be haunting and pleasing on their own, but are allowed to expand and elaborate underneath a shear layer of lo-fi production: simple, sometimes overblown beats, and minimal accompaniment are strewn about - dismal and/or damaged blankets of sound churn, swager, or sway, accordingly.
So: what do you do when there's a new split 7" and the cost is $14ppd? The typical consumer would say "fuck that", and understandably so. In a day and age where 7"s have crept up to $7 and $8 in stores, pushing things to this slightly farther point is disturbing at first glance. However: If you are interested, if you appreciate the work that either she or Dirty Beaches does, then "math" is perhaps the best answer.
200 copies, green vinyl, printed center labels, full color "professorial" sleeves with printing on the inside as well, mastered by Bob Weston. I could break down the cost of each of these things and explain how each copy of this 7" costs about twice as much to make as each copy of the last LP that I put out myself. This is largely due to the extremely limited nature of the record, in combination with such "nice" packaging, treatment normally reserved for records with a run of 1,000 or 500 at least. ...that being said, if my last LP sold for $12ppd, and this single cost twice as much to produce, should it be $24ppd?
That, of course, would be insane. Many might argue that $14ppd is as well, but subtracting the $2.50 or so in shipping and the cost of a new 7"mailer, the cost of the production (per unit) and the fact that this is much reduced after having subtracted the artists' copies from the equation, and as hard as it may be to believe, at $14ppd, I don't even think that it's possible for the label to be breaking even.
My advice? Treat this as what it is: an extremely well done artifact, a document done with care and a disregard for trite financials in favor of a specific vision, even if running parallel with an idea of keeping the quantity of the final product low, for whatever reason. In other words, very much like a lathe release, only in the style of something undeniably "well done", "professional", and so on. ...in a way, this is a tangent, but also quiet imperative if you're on the fence regarding the cost.
Dirty Beaches tosses down two songs of sparse and hushed soul music, detuned without more than a handful of notes to even let fall out of key. "Drunk Driving" is Motown at it's core, though naked and dreary, it's hollowed out and would be well suited in an uncomfortable moment of a David Lynch film. "16 Coaches..." delivers much of the same, hypnotic and strangely diseased, remnants of what would have been "percussion" stagger underneath a barrier of drone which seems to constantly be dropping it's pitch while the vocals flirt with the listener in a Suicide-esque manner.
US Girls chops her side into three movements. "Today" is a quick skeletal trance, Throbbing Gristle comes to mind, mildly disturbing in it's ability to exist as a fairly straight-foward minute of "music" that is also eerie and disjointed. "(Excerpt from Down There)" follows with a Casio-like samba / key-tones and guitar, very much matching the vigor of Peaking Lights' most upbeat material, and prompting the desire (of anyone with a brain) for a 20 minute long version to surface somewhere else soon.
"Mah Marie" is the focal point though, an excellent example of what M Remy has to offer in the context of this project: buried industrial undertones, a few layers of her vocals ricocheting on the surface, "tape noise" slicing across the grooves towards the end and a steady increase of nervous tension throughout the three minutes in which she has you in her grasps.
In the end? This 7" is very much "worth it" if you are already a fan of either, and certainly there will be enough left for the obsessive sort if you yourself are not so inclined. From a personal standpoint (and possibly just the slightest bit biased)? This is an excellent addition to the collective output of US Girls and a pretty favorable introduction to Dirty Beaches, and even if coming home at a bit of a high price - it really is a nice looking record.
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