Frankie Rose and the Outs Celebrate Record Release in Brooklyn

What's not to love about Frankie Rose and the Outs? They smile big, wear little black dresses and remind us what the Cramps and Ramones saw in '50s and '60s pop music. Wednesday night at Glasslands Gallery in Brooklyn, N.Y., the foursome cruised through nine songs in 30 minutes, and that was including the time it took Rose to fix a malfunctioning effects pedal.

The show was billed as a record-release party, though it hardly felt like one. Rose and her band didn't play last -- that honor went to Light Asylum -- and the singer-guitarist made only passing reference to the group's self-titled debut, out Sept. 21 on Slumberland.

By now, Rose ought to have the record-launch thing down pat. After all, she's been a member of the backward-looking Brooklyn noise-pop outfits Crystal Stilts and Vivian Girls, as well as the Dum Dum Girls, a fuzzed-out neo-Ronettes girl group based in her home state of California.

Of course, Rose played drums in all of those bands. With the Outs, she's front and center, a place she seems entirely comfortable. On opener 'Save Me,' when her guitar crapped out, she simply picked up a tambourine and doubled the Hal Blaine beat being laid down by drummer Kate Ryan. Rose, Ryan and guitarist Margot Bianca sang three-part harmonies, floating spectral, reverb-enhanced vocals atop the tune's blissful wash of guitar and bass.

'Candy,' up next, was a punky, beachy head-rush, and introducing the song, Rose talked about how she and Outs played their first show roughly a year ago. In their short time together, they've grown into a versatile group, and Wednesday night, they broke the dreamy California vibe with the sleazy garage-blues stomp of 'Must Be Nice' and a nearly a cappella version of Arthur Russell's 'You Can Make Me Feel Bad.' They also covered 'You're No Good,' a 1975 smash for Linda Ronstadt.

Frankie closed with a trip to 'Girlfriend Island,' a place where, by the sound of it, all the girls rock beehives and carry switchblades but really just want to hold hands. Perhaps it's somewhere on the L train?