Glistening Pleasure - The Dirty Hearts – Pigs

Label: Salt Shaker
Rating: 3.25 Guns

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Written By: Hilary Hughes

Sometimes, I just want to go to a dive bar, down cheap whiskey from chipped shot glasses that’ll never be clean no matter how hard you scrub ‘em, and then leave said bar filthy, sweaty, and in a state of satisfied dishevelment after listening to a band wailing on a grimy stage with shoddy lighting. Anyone who’s ever seen a Quentin Tarantino movie (and liked it) can probably relate to this hardly hygienic musical fantasy of mine. Why all the dirty bar, dirty band talk? After listening to The Dirty Hearts’ Pigs, I suddenly want to be sitting on a broken stool upholstered with ripped vinyl with a pint in hand.

I want to head bang along to the controlled, distorted chaos of songs like “Possession Blues” and “T-Bone” in 4/4 time. Granted, I don’t need a bar with a slew of phone numbers on the beaten bathroom stall to make the head banging happen because I’ve got Pigs playing on a loop on my iTunes, but I think you get the picture.

So, why the less than perfect rating? Pigs is an album that I definitely can’t take in one sitting: the hammering drumbeats back every track, the minor-chord melodies sound very much alike, and listening to Pigs on your iPod when your hungover from a night at any kind of bar that remotely resembles the type I describe above is a surefire way to make your head explode. With that said, there’s a time and place for getting smacked in the face with good music and a good time, and I feel like The Dirty Hearts supply an ample soundtrack for an appropriate setting.

I wouldn’t listen to them in the car on the way to church or anything, but giving Pigs a spin is a great way to get up the nerve to walk tall into the nearest dive and order a shot of badass, straight-up.

Like this band? You may also like: Hot Hot Heat, The Vines, The White Stripes