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Review: Wild Flag's Super Grrl Group Debut

If all you knew about Wild Flag was that the four-piece band is a "supergroup" that pools the talents of two hot-shot guitarists who made their names in the 1990s - one of whom has gone on to become an NPR commentator and the other who tended toward pastoral indie prog-rock - well then, you might expect Wild Flag (*** 1/2) to be a wan attempt to recapture past glories, rather than the bristling and often thrilling affair it is.

The two principals are Carrie Brownstein, formerly of Sleater-Kinney, recently of the insightful NPR Monitor Mix blog and concurrently of the frequently hilarious sketch comedy show Portlandia, and Mary Timony, one-time front woman of Helium and an impressive guitar shredder in her own right. The pair's disparate talents - Brownstein's pop-punkier, Timony's more trancey - are augmented by Minders bass player Rebecca Cole and the great Janet Weiss on drums.

It's not an altogether seamless blend, but Brownstein's wildcat energy and Weiss' rhythmic muscle give Timony tunes like the love-struck "Something Came Over Me" and hippie-ish  "Glass Tambourine" needed momentum. And from the opening "Romance" - "We love the sound, the sound is what found us, sound is the blood between me and you" - to the ever-accelerating "Racehorse," in which she proclaims "I'm a racehorse, you put your money on me" - it's a kick to hear Brownstein again applying her acute intelligence to making music, rather than just writing and talking about it.

Wild Flag play Union Transfer on October 19, with Eleanor Friedberger. "Romance," shot at the austin bike shop Mellow Johnny's during SXSW this year, is below.  Listen to the album here.

Previously: Joe Strummer on 9 /11: "The world just can't be that bad. It just can't be." Follow In The Mix on Twitter here