Seems that while I was on break, a lot of things happened. But let’s not harp on the past, but rather dive head first into the future with, ironically, a band named Girls in the Eighties.

Now I’m not quite sure how I suddenly had a series of mp3s from this Nashville fuzzed-out group appear in my iTunes library, but thankfully it happened. Evidently, it can happen to you as well, as the band is giving away their debut, entitled Teenage Royalty, FOR FREE from their myspace page (or, for the less stingy, you can send them along $5 for a physical copy). What I like most about Girls in the Eighties’s album is how they somehow manage to mash together noise rock with mainstream pop without any blend occurring whatsoever. Just like water and oil in a bottle – together in the same container yet completely separate and distinguishable — it seems on every song you have a certain catchy-ness that you would find on the Billboard Top 100 while simultaneously blasting your ears with reverb filled vocals and staticy guitar lines. I mean, sure, we’ve heard plenty of roughed-up pop songs to go around this past year, but where The Pains of Being Pure at Hearts of the world work to blend together the elements of the two worlds, Girls in the Eighties are more keen on separation.

No track is a better example of this than their opener “Vacation”. Take away the bullhorn screamed vocals and the warbled looped sample midway through, and what you’re left with is a crystal clear pop-rock track that could be featured on Now That’s What I Call Music 33. It’s like they know that these tracks could be Grey’s Anatomy bound and are intentionally screwing them up with noise, all while giving a collective middle finger to mainstream music companies. Brilliant!

Now certainly, Girls In the Eighties bend both ways across the happy medium they found with “Vacation”. “Teenage Royalty”, for example, is much more muddled with only a discernible melody during the chorus and is frequently clouded with random electro bloops & beeps fluttering every which way. On the other hand, “Yesterday’s Don’t Mean Shit” and “Too Cool For This Crowd” venture too much into your High School Senior Class Song territory, but, fortunately, both are salvaged by their cheeky lyrics. If anything can be said about Teenage Royalty is that it’s a fun listen that’s good for a play pretty much anytime.

Here are a handful of my favorite tracks and, if you want more, just head on over to their myspace to dowload the LP:

Girls in the Eighties // Slow Motion

Girls in the Eighties // Teenage Royalty

Girls in the Eighties // Vacation