Bratmobile - Ladies, Women and Girls [Red]

Released on Lookout in 2000, Ladies, Women and Girls was the first Bratmobile album in six years and the sound of a band that had clearly missed doing this. Allison Wolfe, Erin Smith and Molly Neuman came back with better recordings, faster songs and none of the earnestness that had started to calcify around riot grrrl as a label.

"Gimme Brains" is the calling card, a minute and a half of Wolfe demanding intelligence from a suitor over one of Smith's cleanest garage riffs. "Eating Toothpaste" opens the record at a sprint. "Cheap Trick Record" pays its debt outright, and "You're Fired" and "Flavor Of The Month Club" aim squarely at the music industry that had spent the nineties trying to package the band's scene and sell it back. Neuman's drumming is the underrated element throughout, pushing songs that could easily fall apart.

What makes it hold up is that it is a pop record wearing punk clothes. The hooks are real, the playing is tighter than the genre required, and nothing outstays its welcome.

Kill Rock Stars reissue on red vinyl. A reunion album that has aged better than most of the records it was reacting against.