Post-punk from Richmond, former members of Gumming.

Our take: I got wind of this new Richmond, Virginia project a few months before I got to hear any music, and I was already intrigued because Warm Girls features 1/2 of Gumming, whom I just loved. Warm Girls isn’t anything like Gumming from a stylistic standpoint, but good musicians tend to make good music whatever style they choose, and that’s the case here. The reference that keeps coming to mind when I listen to Warm Girls is Pylon. Like Pylon (or at least like my favorite moments in Pylon’s music), Warm Girls sounds like an American punk/indie band bulked up with a fat, dub-y bass sound that evokes the way UK post-punk groups like PiL and Gang of Four refracted funk and reggae influences from the Americas. Despite the bass sound, though, Warm Goes doesn’t sound very post-punk… their songs are angular, but upbeat and energetic, with driving drums and big guitars that sound like they're informed by, but not indebted to, hardcore. Though as you might expect from a band with the word “Girls” in their name, Warm Girls’ music side-steps the macho elements of hardcore while tapping into the genre’s drive and intensity. It’s a brilliant demo, and if you’re interested in that space where underground punk overlaps with feminist ideologies—if groups like Girlsperm and Fitness Womxn get a lot of time on your turntable—I think you’ll agree.