Dream Bitches: Coke and Spiriters

If you can excuse the corny title (possibly chosen after one too many Rum and Cokes) there’s much to love in the second album from New York’s Dream Bitches. The jangling, gnarly guitars and infectious, intertwining, harmonies will no doubt receive many Sleater-Kinney references, but Dream Bitches lush, retro-pop has more in common with the wordy, sussed lyricism of New York neighbors Jeffrey Lewis and Kimya Dawson. By far the best song here is “Sweet Anneth”, a cute, intoxicating, story of “the cutest boy I ever saw” who teaches Anneth to “sip some cider through a straw,” before being left with “sixteen brats who call me ma.” Breaking between That Dog-style kooky verses and a full-on Babes in Toyland on-the-dance-floor hooks, Anneth discovers that the “the moral of this story is don’t drink your cider through a straw.”