| It's easy to place the Locals in the ranks
of solid female singer/songwriter-fronted groups in Chicago (the sort of crew that
dominate the Sweet Pickle Music roster). And it's even easier when the folkie songwriter
is someone like Yvonne Doll -- her throaty, powerful voice recalls Ani DiFranco, and to a
lesser extent, the peppy hiccups of Cyndi Lauper in alto. Doll's barely-there acoustic
guitar (she says the electric guitar doesn't do much for her) on her third release (second
with the Locals) couldn't solely keep a whole record afloat -- but with the assistance of
the buzzing, piercing melodic sheen of the band's wild card, David Goldman's jaunty
violin, these eleven tracks bounce by with a buoyancy that is notable. "Ballad of
'99," with its driving rhythms, persistent cowbell, and buzzsaw violin solo, may be
the strongest song, and apparently the band thinks so too, since they include it twice
(the second version is a "radio edit," the same, just shorter). When the various
shades of the disc get a bit monochrome, there is a breather from the domineering violin
on the instrumentally minimal track "Perfect World," a quieter love song
(lyrically oblique, most of the songs seem to be about relationships). Apparently Doll
used to play alone, and while having a band really fleshes her tunes out, it's nice to
hear her stripped-down for a tune. With seamless production and performances, Baby
Buddhas & Little Einsteins sounds - with so much violin and the vocals - like a
treble kicker, high-end heavy and a bit crowded. If you crave the heaviness of Sabbath, or
the guitar crunch of Cobain, the Locals aren't going to satisfy. Still, if you like
pop-folk bands with inventive violin leads and strong as heck singers, chances are the
Locals (who often get compared to the Dave Matthews Band because of the violin) are more
than mere contenders.
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