Hunx & His Punx

After laying out his M.O. with last year's seven-inch collection, Gay Singles, Jay Reatard and Nobunny affiliate Seth Bogart took the next logical step and recruited an all-female backing to help him recreate the sounds of '60s girl groups. Hallmarks of acts like the Ronettes and the Shangri-Las are filtered through his queer punk lens, putting a fresh spin on a tried and true formula. The Ramones tried to create a similar aesthetic on End of the Century, but got lost in the album's overblown Phil Spector production. Bogart, though, keeps with the lo-fi garage sound of his previous work, to terrific effect. Most importantly, he's able capture the vulnerability that lays at the heart of the best girl group music, which is often lost on imitators. The Ramones were always too tough to tap into that. Among "the Punkettes" backing Bogart is Shannon and the Clams' Shannon Shaw, who plays bass and wrote a trio of the record's tunes. Her voice creates the perfect counterpoint for Bogart's nasal drawl and the album's best tracks find the two trading lines. Moving forward while looking back, Too Young to Be In Love finds the sweet spot between classic pop sweetness and garage rock fury.