Warpaint are three smoking hot girls and some dude, hailing from Los Angeles, California. Their E.P. Exquisite Corpse is a dark and interesting sonic chronicle of the adventures and experiments of sad space-fairies. I read that their fan base includes some hot, edgy celebs but I'm going to ignore that to deter cynicism.

What's striking throughout is their unashamed use of effects. Decimated vocals, flangey phasey business and layers of echoed guitars colour their long dark songs and for the most part it works. There are also lots of keyboards including a classy use of synth strings which, like saxophones, can be very dangerous in the wrong hands.

Warpaint have a damn cool relaxed spooky groove that comes out in some songs, as do urban folk drones and heaps of psychedelics, possibly courtesy of John Frusciante, who worked the knobs for this record. At one point they veer from the dirt alley into Cat Power's backyard but came out on the other side relatively unscathed. They even borrow lyrics from Mary Wells' 60's hit My Guy but make it sound stalkery.

I really like the mood and music on here. There is no saxophone on this EP but I would trust them with one and that's saying something, believe me.

By Nick Maher