All Girl Summer Fun Band

The All Girl Summer Fun Band is exactly what the name implies — four fun-loving females who produce warm, breezy pop with oodles of "oohs" and "shooby-doos" in the vein of Heavenly, Tiger Trap, and 1960s girl groups like the Crystals. Based in Portland, OR, they have ties to a number of other Northwest acts like Hutch & Kathy (the latter drums for the AGSFB) and the Softies (AGSFB guitarist Jen Sbragia and Tiger Trap's Rose Melberg), among others. But the AGSFB are more than just a side project; they aren't really even a "project" at all — more like a state of mind. Just as the Beach Boys once famously titled an album Endless Summer, that's the state of mind the AGSFB evoke on their Calvin Johnson-produced debut. Not that everything is sunshine and roses; summers aren't always happy, after all. Sometimes relationships don't work out ("Cut Your Hair" — not the Pavement song), sometimes your wheels break down ("Car Trouble"), etc. The weather may be nicer than usual, but life goes on, and bad things happen. But solidarity is a defense against disappointment, as in "Theme Song," in which the gals proclaim with pride, "We're the all girl summer fun band." And that they are. A lot more real than Josie & the Pussycats or The Powerpuff Girls — but just as much fun. ~ Kathleen C. Fennessy, Rovi