Mildred and The Mice - I Like My Mice (Dead)

There is a shroud of mystery that surrounds the musical act Mildred and The Mice. Jack White, the album's producer, has given us one story about a hardware store, a Winnebago, and a lack of artist info but I have some doubts. It's a wonderful story and I hope it's true but I just can't be sure. However, I know that they created a 45 single and that's what I'm going to talk about.

I picked this up at Vintage Vinyl knowing nothing about Mildred or her mice. I just knew that Jack White is one of my favorite producers and the girl on the front looks crazy. Awesome.

"I Like My Mice (Dead)" is a very simple song containing only two or three chords. It begins with Mildred singing in "meows" with some instruments behind it. Everything stops and the guitar comes back with a different riff. The ultimate stomp beat, Mildred shouts about killing mice. The guitars sound naturally distorted, a common theme with Jack White. After a few great screams, the tempo really picks up. If you listen, you can tell that Mildred barely has any breathe. She makes this kind of face-melting noise towards the end.

The B-Side, "Spider Bite," also starts with some excellent meowing. The song is very slow and scary as Mildred sings lyrics that are similar to "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" except the spider sneaks into houses and bites children. Then she sings about a cat that comes along and kills some more mice, a common theme in Mildred's small discography. Very quickly the song changes back into the fast tempo of "I Like My Mice (Dead)" and the entire song changes. That's right, the B-Side turns into the A-Side.

"I Like My Mice (Dead)" is out now on Third Man Records. The mystery of this record only makes it more exciting. I think it's pretty interesting, funny, bold, and a great way to make your friends very concerned. I only pray that Mildred hasn't already murdered the rest of her band...