Review: Nancy Drew Crew- The Case is Closed CD

Nancy Drew Crew, as you might suspect from the name, falls into the genre of cute-hop (nerdcore, whatever) that's swept the retro-Adidas wearing youth culture for a few years now. They also happen to be some of the most radical and accessible polemicists, not only in Minneapolis, but maybe in the whole great United States of pop.

The Case is Closed holds eight songs, clocking in at around a half hour and, just so you know that NDC is sincere about DIY revolution, the CDs come packaged in hand-sewn and hand-printed cases.

On stage they go by the names of Mayhem, MC Smells and Skullbuster-- while in the real world they don the mild-mannered Midwestern aliases of Anna, Kelly and Brian.
NDC bakes up surprisingly slinky beats and anthemic choruses about such non-anthemic topics as hygiene conspiracies, the scam called higher education and DIY crafts. Fronted by two female MCs, they take turns weaving intricate rhymes around a pulsing , busy backbeat. Their delivery on the verses is light and flexible, while the choruses are anchored by epic samples and singsong anthems. Fans of Le Tigre and high-energy locals like Dance Band and Best Friends Forever will probably find something to like.

The backing music consists of samples and looped beats and sounds, to me, heavily electronic. All said, the music is catchy and provides a solid platform for the all-important rhymes of the MCs, but I would prefer a little mor does have that atmospheric Dead Prez thing going for it, but I'm a sucker for real instruments, so I wish there was a little more of that.

Politically, NDC are proud lifestylists. You're probably not going to find them reworking the same tired punk lyrics masquerading as politics. Instead, the songs are wordy complex manifestos that turn the traditional feminist focus of the "personal as political"-- found in grating neo-folk like Ani Di Franco-- on its head. Instead, NDC takes politics personally. They manage, although sometimes just barely, to tiptoe that subtle line for political bands, making their points without seeming overly dogmatic.

All in all, this is a good first album. Perhaps the most endearing evidence of their sincerity can be found in their vocal delivery, which eschews the Dirty South's drawl and the East Coast's precision, in favor of accents that would sound more fitting on Prairie Home Companion, all stretched out 'O's and 'bags' that sounds like 'begs.'
Min-ay-sow-tah, indeed.