Brody Dalle

Diploid Love

For music fans of a certain age, Brody Dalle will always be best known as the sneering, mohawked frontwoman of the Distillers. On her long-awaited solo debut, echoes of that band's aggressive gravel-punk crop up on the Ramones-esque “Underworld” and the smoky pogo “Don't Mess With Me.” However, Diploid Love is an impressively diverse collection; the album encompasses blitzkrieg power-pop (the horn-peppered “Rat Race”), Portishead-like piano brooding (“I Don't Need Your Love”) and burned-out stoner rock (“Blood In Gutters”). While several songs do need an editor—”Dressed In Dreams” in particular drags quite a bit—the record's honesty and vulnerability are inspiring. In fact, Diploid Love's most powerful moment is “Meet The Foetus / Oh The Joy,” Dalle's metaphor-filled chronicle of giving birth to her children that's filtered through dreamy, insistent electro-rock grooves.

Caroline http://www.caroline.com

“Rat Race”