dream bitches

photo credit: Lippe

"Actually composed of four dream bitches and one fantasy bastard, this New York-based quintet started off as a duo by Yoko Kikuchi and Ann Zakaluk in 2003. Both fresh out of art school, their creativity was in a whirl and ready to be applied to something, and they aimed it at music. Despite a bit of nostalgia to Dream Bitches, these girls are the nightmare of 1950s Pleasantville housewives - they don't hide their intelligence.or feistiness."

-Both Sides Of The Mouth, May 2009



"I used to have a close friend who swore he loved to date girls who were cute, intelligent and charismatic. It was the ones who knew exactly how cute, intelligent and charismatic they were with whom he hated to get mixed up. I have a feeling he'd really be attracted to Dream Bitches. He'd also find them torturous.



The New York band's sophomore album, Coke-and-Spiriters is nothing but charm."



-Aversion.com, August 2008



"Yoko Kikuchi writes the lyrics, which are a mouthful to sing but worth looking up on the Dream Bitches' website, dreambitches.org (.org!). She captures those late-night tug-at-your-heartstrings, young-but-not-so-young-anymore moments you have with yourself when you're alone in your room and half-dressed."



- Consequence of Sound, 7/13/08



"The lack of solid female power pop vocalists lately had me in a funk, until I heard Dream Bitches. This is a playful pop album, that gets all the influences right, without sounding like The Pipettes. The guitar riffs on the catchy "Hierarchy Island" remind me of a female version of the Vandalias a little bit. The gears switch around and they can channel both They Might Be Giants lyrical sarcasm and The Cranberries vocal harmonies all at once. 'Mother's Day' is an especially good song in this style. Some songs get folky and then others like 'Me and The Major' have a nice garage pop feel. 'Sweet Anneth' is a hilarious ode from a bitch's point of view. And the pop hooks and effortless harmonies here are a welcome change in the super catchy 'Video Games' - for those of you who miss the old Liz Phair, you'll find comfort with the Dream Bitches."

-Powerpopaholic, 6/15/08



"The five-piece, all New York band is finally starting to get some attention for their intelligent, cutesy songs and it's about damn time! I mean these girls have been around since 2003 and you're finally taking note!?!? It's good though, and it's well deserved as most of these songs are really fantastic bits. There's a little bit of anti-folk to them, like The Moldy Peaches or pre-Thermals era Hutch and Kathy, and a lot of that Brit-pop sound that's been dominating the scene for ages. But no matter how many styles it resembles there's a lot of originality to it especially in the songwriting, which is strong, intelligent, and pretty easy to sing along with (for the most part)."

-Pop Tarts Suck Toasted, 6/17/08



"Local band the Dream Bitches celebrates the release of its second album, Coke and Spiriters, a nicely ramshackle rock album with a cuddly sensibility reminiscent of K Records acts from the ’90s (with a very NYC sort of self-referentialism)."

-Time Out NY, 5/13/08



"Don't let the colorful clothes fool you. Their music may sound like sunny pop songs, but the lyrics tell you another story. Of course lazy bloggers compared them with The Breeders, but they got back a bit further than that. With their sixties pomp and late seventies attitude a la The Slits they let the vocals travel all over the place. With nine originals and a cover of Me and the Major (Belle and Sebastian), Coke-and-Spiriters is a good album for a summer day with the clouds slowly building up to deliver a shitload of heavy rain. And incidentally: Way to Go is a song that Kim Gordon should consider performing as an encore."

-Here Comes the Flood, 6/14/08



"This ten song album is all about that indie rock glory, jangly guitars

and harmony vocals that remind me of the best of The Breeders and

Bratmobile as they sing songs about vacations, silent days, cars. On the

surface, their songs might seem like an endless collection of quirky

pop references but take in the whole picture and one will find a lot

of well written songs. They can be puzzle-like and unfold to reveal

its truths, and perhaps that's what they're doing, hoping for fans to

unravel the puzzle in order to reach the song's final destination and

dwell in the glory of the epiphany."

-The Run-Off Groove, 5/21/08



"Dream Bitches exist somewhere in between folk music, punk, and playground rhymes. The obvious focal point of the band is the lead-singing-pair Yoko Kikuchi and Ann Zakaluk. This duo's ability to harmonize effortlessly and then move to the same melody sets this band apart from the thousands of other garage-inspired pop-punk bands. Beyond their skill, the lyrics are decently clever and catchy. In focusing on the two singers, it easy to forget that they would be left behind if it wasn't for the rest of the band, who are very serviceable at playing pop hooks that move forward at a decent pace. The end result is a very catchy garage pop (or "indie pop" if you are so inclined to use that label) album."

-WLURradio.blogspot.com, 5/5/08



"Dream Bitches is a chick band that makes rocking good music. They have the raw, gritty, deskilled feel of garage rock, but paired with sweet female vocals for a little sugar with their spice. On their second album, they use pop sensibilities with rough garage and throw in some violins -- very nice. There are also a few acoustic tracks, which really help the listener focus on the amazing lyrical skills these ladies possess. This is a nice, versatile album that has a strong direction backed by true talent."

-Jessica Kizer, Kalamazoo Gazette, 5/7/08



"NYC's Dream Bitches second album Coke-and-Spiriters sees the ladies taking off with repetitive 'do do do's,' and a spirit that recalls at least a few riot grrrls on opener 'Bad Luck Bill.' While the album mellows out with calmer folk flavored melodies here and there, such as on 'Bronxy Marie,' Dream Bitches excel when they turn up the guitars and add a little more intensity. Proof is in the raving mad harmonies on the chunky slag and slang of 'Maniacal Mechanic,' and maybe even better captured by the twisting lines of standout 'Mother's Day,' which carries well to the end. Having said all that, the song I keep hitting repeat on is the cover of Belle & Sebastian's 'Me and the Major,' a fine job Dream Bitches style on a great song, making it their own for a little while. Overall, a good time with enough catchy tunes and versatility to keep the ear inclined."

-Parasites and Sycophants, 6/9/08



"The new album Coke-and-Spiriters by New York locals, Dream Bitches, plays out like a merry, punky homage to the old school pageantry of '50s-era pop songs with an impish twist that reveals itself in their lyrics, which tend to be darker than the instrumentals. The extremely cute album art, abound with swirls and kittens with shot glasses, does a good job of representing what the band is all about: sweet and attractive on the outside, yet a bit menacing when you dig a little deeper.



One can appreciate the interesting flow of the individual songs in the sense that they rarely conform to the typical formula of verse, chorus, verse, chorus. Instead, they have a more prose-poetic feel to them that adds to their artistry and originality. Similarly, tracks like “Sweet Anneth” exhibit the band’s willingness to experiment through the way the vocals play over each other and eventually intermingle.



The songs on the ten-track album flow amazingly well into one another, with each song a bit more stylistic than the last."



-Feminist Review, 8/2/2008



"Is it dreamy? Check. Is it bitchy? Check. It's also smart, fun, and catchy as hell. Tales of love won, lost, spurned, withheld, and denied, sweetly sung without taking a single breath. Is it self-loathing antifolk? Is it jangly indiepop? Is it swaggering riot grrl? Does it fucking matter?"

-Nadav of Phoning It In, 5/17/08