Many new bands emerge every year. Hell, every day I see or read about new bands. Much less often than that though, a new band emerges and the sound is so interesting and new that you wonder how you didn’t find out about them sooner. That’s the case when discussing Los Angeles’ Warpaint. These ladies, all four of them, are quickly becoming not only festival favorites, but they’re announcing their arrival in a big way. The new album, titled ‘Warpaint,’ is a show of force, but also of finesse. But we’ll get to that soon enough.

Founded in 2004 by Emily Kokal on guitar, Theresa Wayman on guitar and vocals,and bass brought to us by Jenny Lee Linberg, the sound is soothing, but also quite complex and deep. After forming and toiling away in the local L.A. Scene, they emerged with the five song E.P. Exquisite Corpse. For most who heard it is was the first invitation into the world of Warpaint. The album was produced by former Red Hot Chili Pepper guitarist John Frusciante. Now, you likely may be aware of my disdain for the RHCP, but I’ve always respected Frusciante as a brilliant player, and on this one he also manages to showcase his craft in bringing out the best parts of the band and also helping to mature a sound of a growing talent. Songs like “Beetles,” especially have a brilliant mix between upbeat, wandering, and focus. It’s almost as if they took a lesson from Interpol’s Turn on the Bright Lights, mixed it with the quiet feeling you get in the desert that’s learned from so much of Mazzy Star’s discography and figured out how to make a perfect album that should be played at two in the morning while wandering the streets. The stand out song from Corpse though has to be “Billie Holiday.” Although mostly written by the band, this excellent song features an excerpt from “My Guy,”by the incomparable Smokey Robinson.

Having constructed a pretty interesting first E.P. They returned a few years later with a proper full length album, “the Fool.” Not only did it stand up to the first offering, but it was a gradual growth in terms of songwriting, song structuring, and blending of sounds, both old and new. Warpaint is proving that music doesn’t have to remain a boys club. These awesome, talented ladies have the ability to ease you into happy submission in a way that most all male bands simply can’t. And it’s not just because of their sex. They really play their instruments well. They’re fucking great in fact. “Undertow,” from the second album stand out as a particular masterpiece, as well as “Composure.” Undertow takes what they started with Billie Holiday and veers down multiple paths and expanding on an initial sound and creating something that’s so thick and dense you’d think Kevin Shields was helping to produce.

Shortly before the recording process began, the band finally had some luck in finding a suitable fourth member in the talents of Stella Mozgawa. Her timing is accurate and it adds subtle little things to each song she’s featured on. For Warpaint, in my opinion, it was finding the missing piece in Mozgawa that finally propelled this band to where they could start to compete with the big names in indie rock. I highly suggest you track down “the Fool.” It’s a little known gem and has only gotten better in the years since it’s release.

Which brings us to the newest album, simply titled “Warpaint.” There’s not enough good things I can say about this album. Quite simply, it bitch slaps the previously released works and proclaims “ We are Warpaint, here to take you an a journey in a lyrical and musical equivalent of a lush, tranquil jungle.” Songs like “ Love is to Die,” maintain the signature sound of the band, while yet again fine tuning the production of the band. It’s pretty unusual when listening to something on your laptop to feel like you’re sitting in the room with the band playing the music, but that’s exactly how I feel. I have no clue in earth how they do it, but they manage it. I can’t even imagine how’d they sound on record, or better yet, in person at a show. I truly think in the next five years or so we’ll see them getting prime spots o big festival stages and seeing them headline smaller festivals like Pitchfork or Fun Fun Fun Fest. I know they’ve earned it with these first albums. If you’re not aware of this potent force, you should be. Warpaint has arrived, and hopefully they’ll be making us weak in the knees for quite some time.