White Mystery: Garage, Part 1

Miss Alex White and Francis Scott Key White are a red-haired brother-sister duo from Chicago who (unlike another rock duo surnamed White) actually are brother and sister and are still going strong. White Mystery are about to release their second full-length, Blood & Venom, released April 19. Fans of their first full-length, self-titled and self-released, will not be disappointed — the duo continue to mix simple but memorable melodies with raw guitar rhythms and stock blues licks, and this time around, they've made abundant use of effects for a psych twist. Over the straightforward but crash-heavy drums and processed power chords, Miss Alex sings and bellows, sometimes defiant ("I don't make apologies about doing what I do best/here's a message for all you girls/raise your fists up/punch a hole in the world"), sometimes pouty ("Let's have a party/I have an idea/yeah yeah yeah"). Think Grace Slick's tough and confident vocals fronting the energetic chaos of the Dirtbombs or the Gories. And that's part of what's standout about them: Sometimes Miss Alex White's voice is just so pretty, but not so pretty that it can't fit in with the rest of the band's raw aggressiveness. Now that it seems as though those other Whites are finished, there's nothing to stand in their way. As Alex said in a recent interview: "There's only room for one 'White' band in the world."