This came out in 2003 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Their first EP was written entirely in Bb minor. Each song could use no more than three chords, and last no longer than three minutes. No cymbals were used.
Thankfully, Danish noise-pop duo The Raveonettes have relaxed all those silly rules for their debut album Chain Gang of Love. This time, all the songs are in Bb major. A couple even break the three-minute barrier — though you still don’t hear a lot of cymbals. But the best thing about The Raveonettes is what hasn’t changed — thanks to their bizarre collision of co-ed vocals, girl-group melodies, twangy surf-punk backbeats and wall-of-fuzz guitars, they still sound like a stylish, seductive cross between The Shangri-Las, Sonny and Cher, Sonic Youth, Suicide and The Jesus and Mary Chain. Any way you slice it, that rules.
