SONG OF THE DAY: "Ruby" by Cheap Girls

Cheap Girls is a band that's very much in the middle of the whole '80s/'90s alt-rock revival scene. They sound like the direction The Replacements were starting to go in before they started getting bad and broke up. The band's biggest downfall, unfortunately, is their lack of diversity. Their songs are all catchy, upbeat, fun songs with loud guitars and good lyrics. Not great lyrics, but good lyrics. This sound usually works well for them, but they come off seeming like a one-trick pony.

Cheap Girls will be releasing their fourth album, Famous Graves, on May 13th, so we'll see if they've started branching out a bit. The first single, released a few days ago, indicates that they probably haven't, but I'll wait until I hear the whole thing before passing final judgement.

But that's enough negativity about this band, because I actually do like them quite a bit. In fact, one super cool thing they've been doing is releasing acoustic versions of their entire albums. They did so for the first two albums they released, and I actually find myself enjoying the acoustic versions more than the official albums sometimes. I think his voice works a lot better on acoustic songs, and I was happy to see that they included a single acoustic song on their most recent album. It's a trend I hope they continue. But, of course, they released the electric version of that one acoustic song as a bonus track, so I'm fairly certain they just record every song they write both ways. They should try swapping a few electric versions out on their albums. Or I guess I could just do that and create my own versions of their albums. I don't know.

Okay, that's way more than enough rambling for now. Just listen to the song. It's called "Ruby." Enjoy!