SOUNDTRACK: THE SLITS-Cut (1978).
This album is mentioned in this story. It’s interesting to me how this band is so associated with the punk scene when musically they are very far from what most people consider punk (and from what the band in this story sounds like).
The Slits went from being unable to play their instruments, to playing an interesting bass heavy, guitar-slashing style. It’s reggae and dub inspired but sounds nothing like reggae. Ari Up’s vocals are defiant and brash but in addition to screaming and shrieking, she can also sing quite nicely.
The rest of the band are fully invested–chanting along and fleshing out this, at times, bizarre album.
The bass sound (from Tessa Pollitt) on the album is fat and round–it’s a great sonic feeling and is a perfect low end for the detached guitar style (from Viv Albertine) in the songs. Founding member and drummer Palmolive left the band apparently because she didn’t want to do the cover shoot. She was replaced by eventual Siouxsie and the Banshees drummer Budgie.
“Instant Hit” is anything but. With clanging guitars playing opposite a slow grooving bass as all three sing. The drums are complex with a lot of percussion. When the verse starts the guitar chords are unconventional for sure. You can sense a melody in all of the sounds, but it is buried. The album takes off a bit with “So Tough” a much faster song with bass lines that run up the neck, fast drumming and Ari Up’s vocals hitting a higher register for “You can’t take anymore now you’re getting weak / So tough /
Don’t start playing hide and seek.”
“Spend Spend Spend” pairs nicely with “Shopifting.” “Spend” is a slow loping song as the lyrics (sung in a sometime off-key mocking warble) mock consumerism:
Going home, into bed when I’ve treated myself
I’ve been quite hard, after a hard day’s work
I have found a hundred ways to get rid of all my worries
“Shoplifting” is the antidote. “Spend” is 3 minutes while “Shoplifting is barely 90 seconds. The bass line on this song is fast and feels like it’s running as much as the chorus: do a runner
A kind of reggae slash of guitar:
Put the cheddar in the pocket
Put the rest under the jacket
Talk to the cashier, he won’t suspect
And if he does… And if he does…
Shouted by all of them: Do a runner! Do a runner! Do a runner! Do a runner!
Ten quid for the lot
We pay fuck all
Babylonian won’t lose much
And we’ll have dinner tonight
Do a runner!
After the third verse She screams “Run!” like a banshee as the chords ascend in speed and notes.
“FM” is a twist on the radio band: I’m waiting to hear what program is next. What program is next? (FM) Frequent Mutilation transmits over the air. This slow song has one of the catchier upfront melodies. Up next is the longest song on the disc. At over four minutes long, it is the antithesis of punk. A slow echoing guitar-just scratches on the strings as the bass meanders around the clattering percussion. After a minute and a half though it gets catchy with a funky bass and some reggae chords that play through to the end.
“Love und Romance” is a fast pulsing song with quick bass and guitar chord stabs. And, I’m guessing an ironic look at love:
I’m so HAPPY!
You’re so NICE!
Kiss kiss kiss!
Fun fun LIFE!
Fun fun fun I’m having fun
Hee hee hee!
It’s such a love
Hee hee hee!
Now we’re one
Life’s a gas all the time
You’re so lovely, you’re so fine!
(She wants you, she wants you)
Are you ready for this?
Are you ready for this?
Gimmee a great big kiss
“Typical Girls” has a two note bass line and …piano! The whole song is sort of chanted along while the chorus has a jazzy bassline and noisy guitars.
My favorite song is the final one, Adventures Close to Home,” which is surely one of the more unusual songs on an unusual album. A funky bass opens with some quiet almost out of tune sounding guitars. The vocals intertwine and sound almost mocking withe the different singers interrupting each other as she sings follow love follow (hate). It’s as if all of the parts are doing different things but they all fall together in a fascinating way that I can’t stop listening to.
The album comes with a jagged and rather fun version of “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” which is a pretty good introduction to the band if you’re looking for a familiar song to explore their sound.
[READ: July 6, 2020] “A Transparent Woman”
This is a dark story about (former) East Germany.
Monika doesn’t want to be like the horrible sows living in the socialist “future” apartment blocks. She moves out of her parents house and into a hostel. She gets a terrible job (it is illegal not to have a job) but refuses to join the Free German Youth. Life sucks until she sees a group of punks in Alexanderplatz. Then her world opens up.
She shaves her head, puts food coloring in whats left and starts hanging out with the kids with spiked hair and dog collars. She went to a punk show and it was exhilarating. She met two girls there who wanted to start a band and they asked her to join them on drums. She didn’t play drums. They didn’t care. Katja was the lead singer and lyricist. Ellie played guitar. They were terrible It was wonderful. They called themselves Die Gläsernen Frauen [The Transparent Women].
Punk was pretty much illegal in East Germany–a sign of the decadent West. Wherever punks sat, they were moved along within ten minutes. And bands like D.G.F. were definitely illegal in the G.D.R. Only properly approved bands were allowed to play out, so every show was a real danger.
After one of the shows a man approached her at work the next day. He was attractive but had an air of malice. He offered her a cigarette and then gave her a copy of The Slits’ album Cut. She knew they were good, but the semi-nude cover felt wrong coming from him. She tried to blow him off but he insisted that she meet with him next week.
Instead of meeting with him, she went on a tour with the band. They went to some big cities and played small shows. They were tired and scared and every D.G.F. show had a threat of violence.
But the real trouble was when she got back home.
She was fired from her job. When she went to clean out her locker she found three new records in it–she refused to look at them. He was waiting for her outside.
He forced her into a car and took her to a police station. They processed her through the system, but didn’t charge her with anything. Rather, they asked her if she would inform on people in the punk circle. But that was actually a threat as well–she had better do it. After several hours he handed her an agreement. It pledged loyalty to the German Democratic Republic and promised that she would work for State Security, the Stasi. She refused. Surprisingly, he let her go.
When she got back to the hostel, Katja asked if everything was okay. Monika didn’t want to say anything, so she pretended all was fine. But later that night, things in their place were askew. In fact, every time they returned from somewhere, it appeared that things were moved around.
They had a relatively big show in a church basement. At this show a bunch of skinheads turned up with 88 Tommy leading the attack. Things got violent and everybody fled the church. The policeman was waiting for her outside. She asked why he was harassing her when the skinheads were causing the trouble. He asked if she knew any of their names as she started to say Tommy’s name she saw him hanging around smiling at her. He was in on it, too.
When she finally got back home, everyone glared at her–they all knew that she was a rat (even though she wasn’t). The worst feeling was the way Katka looked at her–like she was a bug, The next day the police raided every apartment in the complex and they made Monika watch while her former friends glared at her.
The Stasi used her in other cities. She returned to places where her band toured and met up with people from the shows. They were soon arrested or followed. She felt hollowed out. Eventually, when she had used up all of her contacts and was no longer useful, they stopping helping her. She got into a fight and was jailed for real.
She got out after a few years and found work in Potsdam. It was soon after this that the borders were open–the wall had come own. She refused to believe these rumors, assuming that everything was still a trap.
But it was true. And with the truth came more trouble. Researchers looked into the Stasi files and found out who the informants were. The victims wanted payback. Soon the neighbors knew about her past.
The only thing worse than what was happening to her was what she learned about when she saw what the research revealed.
I’ve been wanting to read more from Kunzru, but wow this was harsh.
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