Track Listing

1. Sunstroke
2. Christmas Song
3. Baby You Should Know
4. 33x
5. Out Of The Sun
6. Drugs
7. Dosed And Became Invisible
8. Alzheimers
9. Ron
10. In The Never Ending Search For A Suitable Enemy
11. VSX
12. Valley Stream

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20072 in Music
• Released on: 2004-03-15
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .22 pounds
• Running time: 42 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
With a real feel for summery pop and garage rock, Joy Zipper could easily slip into tight leathers and come on like The Raveonettes. Just as easily though, their way with spacey atmospherics could see them mutate into a several-headed Orb. American Whip, held up for over a year due to record company complications, sees them land somewhere between the two.

Opening with the warped instrumental "Sunstroke" (as blitzed and stumbling as its name implies), it moves into the breezy, ethereal pop of "Christmas Song", then the driving, scuzzy "Baby You Should Know". It's an impressive start, and it gets better. "Out of the Sun" rides on a garage riff, with vocals flying in from different angles and distances. "Dosed and Became Invisible" is hazy and innovative, while "Alzheimers", as its title suggests, drifts almost psychedelically in fuzzy dementia. Indeed, only the meandering instrumental "VSX" fails to command attention.

Variously produced by the band, David Holmes and My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields, American Whip will certainly not go careering up the charts, but it is conclusive proof that Joy Zipper are one of the finest indie outfits to spring from the East Coast in recent years. --Dominic Wills

Customer Reviews

Whip smart
If the White Stripes got really, REALLY stoned, they might sound something like Joy Zipper.

This talented duo smothers any sign of a sophomore slump in "American Whip," with its lush mesh of sixties psychedelica and shoegazer pop. The resulting album is languid, expansive and dreamy, but laced with a dark edge that you won't find in any Zombies or Beach Boys album.

The delicately blurred "Sunstroke" slowly opens into a whimsical little love song: "I need you more than the rain in springtime/love you more than the open sea." It's an exceptionally sweet song, and it does lure you in. But don't expect all to be happiness and light -- despite the colorful, hazy sound, the songs can get pretty grim at times.

Examples: The swirling lo-fi pop number "Alzheimer's" is from the POV of an old woman with Alzheimer's Disease. "Why do I keep forgetting my name?/Maybe it's something I ate/What is this terrible thing coming over me?" Vincent Cafiso drones. Parent/child alienation. And odes to "Drugs" and magic mushrooms.

Despite their obvious debts to bands like Stereolab, Zombies and fuzzy psychpop, Joy Zipper doesn't sound specifically like anything but itself. The duo's hazy, mellow music just sweeps the listener off their feet, as it brings to mind visions of California sunshine, summer days, flowery fields... and lots of drugs.

Cafiso and his bandmate Tabitha Tindale share keyboard duty, weaving a thick electronic fog around Cafiso's slow-burning guitar riffs and mellow basslines. There are some guest musicians, mostly contributing violins to songs like "Dosed and Became Invisible," which has a strong string presence from beginning to end.

Cafiso and Tindale have wonderfully synchronised vocals -- he sounds stoned and melodic, she sounds ethereal. And they're suited to the smart lyrics: "I dosed and became invisible/A compilation of my dreams/Exploded in my sleep." The "Alzheimer's" song hedges on bad taste when Cafiso sings about Ivory soap, but the lack of humor saves it from seeming grossly insensitive.

Like a shoegazer Fiery Furnaces or a stoned White Stripes, Joy Zipper churns out beautifully foggy rock music. "American Whip" is definitely worth checking out.

Annoyingly, I don't rate it
Maybe I don't smoke enough. It's not like I downloaded it - I wanted to like this, it sounded like the sort of thing I'd go for. But apart from Christmas Song and 33x, the songwriting seems weak, the structure repetitive and the lyrics play off the whole flowers-in-her-hair faux-hippy vibe which I just don't buy.

American Whip has the gentle feel of say the Foo Fighters 'Walking After You', but none of the melodies on here can hold a candle to that track.

While I'm open to laid back tunes, this is vapid and lacking in any substance. There's just nothing there, man. They've croosed the line from chilled to downright dreary.

If the other reviewers here are still playing this record in a year's time, well good on 'em.

For me, it's a case of the Emperor's new Afghan coat. Sorry.

Bring on the summer...
Part Beach Boys, part My Bloody Valentine (Kevin Sheilds actually worked on the album), this is a great CD by a great band. Joy Zipper consist of a NY husband and wife duo taking it turns on vocal duties. If you liked this make sure you check out their amazing EP - "The Stereo And God".