There’s no shortage of Milwaukee bands right now piling their songs high with twisty, nutty arrangements and wild tempo shifts, though many of these bands are working with, if not quite a tongue in cheek, then at the very least a firm smirk. The Cavewives, then, set themselves apart through sheer earnestness. Unlike The Fatty Acids’ hyperactive popsicle stick and Lite-Brite fantasias or Mortgage Freeman’s batty prog rock, the grandiose, bluesy epics on The Cavewives’ debut album Be The Dog are never anything less than 100% sincere.
That straight face serves their songs well. Especially in blues-grounded music, irony is usually a kiss of death, so The Cavewives take their cues from acts that predate Gen X detachment: Floyd; Zeppelin; Rush; Their Satanic Majesties-era Stones and, on the stand-out closer “All Is One,” the proto-punk of Television’s Marquee Moon. It’s dense stuff, always kicking, always fighting, always making a statement. This is music that stakes a claim, unafraid to stand for something.
The Cavewives’ Be The Dog is streaming below, via Bandcamp. The band will play Club Garibaldi on Tuesday, Feb. 24 with Oketo.
