Dim Mak Records have hit onto a winner with this idea. Two bands, two tracks each, one EP – The Real Damage EP. Gossip contributes initially with Left Out Now and Sleepers, followed by Tracy and the Plastics with Dawn Feather and Save Me Claude. Both bands dish out generous helpings of femme attitude, yet the sounds are conceived from very differing musical aesthetics. The former embodies the understated swagger and sexuality of ‘60s and ‘70s soul, backed by grinding, dark guitars and heavy-fisted blues rhythms. Conversely, Tracy and the Plastics throw forth a mouthful of ironic exaggerated monotone – barely penetrating a cascade of drum machine sound – discharged with punk fury.

Left Out Now is a brilliant mix of the grunt of soul and the obnoxiousness of pop. It’s like the White Stripes with Daisy Martey (Noonday Underground) on vocals. The real talent behind the voice however is Beth Ditto, who is undeniably the factor on the two tracks that makes them shine. Her singing is irresistibly robust and warm, yet full of defiant attitude.

With it’s monotonous tom-and-bass-drum intro, Sleepers really puts the spotlight on Ditto’s versatile vocals. Backed only by a looping guitar riff and a minimalist rhythm section, the only criticism I can muster for this track is that it doesn’t go for long enough. It really revs up after half a minute of seduction, but it’s not long until guitar reverb has replaced the rampantly sexual chugging of the chorus and we’ve been hastily shuffled on to the Tracy and the Plastics numbers.

Dawn Feather drags in the drum machines and here it’s hard not to think of the Le Tigre girls. With its muted, multi-part and partially-screamed vocals and verging-on-cheesy distorted guitar riffs, Dawn Feather is less politically-inclined but every bit as infectious as the mood throughout Le Tigre’s long player Feminist Sweepstakes. It’s erratic, gloriously electro punk and very worthy of an epileptic fit on the dance floor.

It’s the ultra-bimbo hilarious deadpan introduction to Save Me Claude that makes me yearn for the days of the ABC dishing out daily doses of Daria episodes:

There’s nothing wrong with a little tongue-in-cheek music, and Tracy and the Plastics somehow pull it off rather stylishly. And although it’s fantastic for Le Tigre and the Plastics to encourage people to have fun while simultaneously beating the drum (machine) for political change, the organic simplicity and subtle sexuality that Gossip achieve in their two tracks really has me hooked. Either way, the Real Damage EP poses a choice of who to pursue first. For me, it really comes down to what kind of femme mood I’m in: quiet confidence or smirking assault?