My email namesake turns down Hummer money!!
Holy Swiss cheeses! The second greatest all-female band in popular music history (the first is here) made the news! Voici:
'The post-punk band LiLiPUT, who broke up more than 20 years ago, could have pocketed $50,000 for "Heidi's Head" after making close to nothing during their five-year existence. But they, too (in aidditon to The Thermals and Trans Am), said no (to Hummer).
"At least I can sleep without nightmares," Marlene Marder reasoned.'
That's actually "Hedi's Head" not "Heidi's" although Heidi certainly makes sense (wasn't that Swiss Miss's nom de chocolat?). And it's easy to hear why Hummer wanted Hedi and her head. Those soleil-fried opening chords ring out "Summer road trip!" But where LiLiPUT's music discovered new planets, Hummer is merely content to destroy this one. A perfect match on one level. So kudos to Marlene Marder for standing her (our) ground. Read the entire article here.
And here's a nifty review of the LiLiPUT reissue I wrote for CMJ:
LiLiPUT: LiLiPUT (Kill Rock Stars)
File Under: The best damn all-female band in the world
R.I.Y.L.: Raincoats, Slits, Delta 5
Kurt Cobain picked the wrong graduates from the Rough Trade school of postpunk for alternative canonization in the early 90’s. Fine as The Raincoats were, they couldn’t sell a bridge as brilliantly as LiLiPUT (née Kleenex before a lawsuit occasioned a name change). This two-disc set covers their 1978-83 oeuvre and was previously available only via mailorder from Zurich in ‘93 until the riot grrrls at Kill Rock Stars finally stepped up to honor their godmothers. What Sleater-Kinney, Bikini Kill and so many others have inherited was a raging formalist spirit akin to Wire. But where Wire perfected the punk miniature, these Swiss misses were more expansive, pasting together sections of first-wave energy rush like a Kurt Schwitters collage. A phalanx of squeaky toys, rape whistles and non-words brought them closer to the music’s putative roots in Dada than any other band of the era while their several-songs-in-one disorder is detectable in contemporaneous hip-hop - 1981’s eternal “Eisiger Wind” changes lanes as frequently as “Looking for the Perfect Beat” and stands with it as one of the greatest singles of the 80’s. This was punk not as an opportunity for expression but as a strange new world in which to take up residency. You’ll never hear those Sniffin’ Glue chords in the same way again.
- Kevin John
'The post-punk band LiLiPUT, who broke up more than 20 years ago, could have pocketed $50,000 for "Heidi's Head" after making close to nothing during their five-year existence. But they, too (in aidditon to The Thermals and Trans Am), said no (to Hummer).
"At least I can sleep without nightmares," Marlene Marder reasoned.'
That's actually "Hedi's Head" not "Heidi's" although Heidi certainly makes sense (wasn't that Swiss Miss's nom de chocolat?). And it's easy to hear why Hummer wanted Hedi and her head. Those soleil-fried opening chords ring out "Summer road trip!" But where LiLiPUT's music discovered new planets, Hummer is merely content to destroy this one. A perfect match on one level. So kudos to Marlene Marder for standing her (our) ground. Read the entire article here.
And here's a nifty review of the LiLiPUT reissue I wrote for CMJ:
LiLiPUT: LiLiPUT (Kill Rock Stars)
File Under: The best damn all-female band in the world
R.I.Y.L.: Raincoats, Slits, Delta 5
Kurt Cobain picked the wrong graduates from the Rough Trade school of postpunk for alternative canonization in the early 90’s. Fine as The Raincoats were, they couldn’t sell a bridge as brilliantly as LiLiPUT (née Kleenex before a lawsuit occasioned a name change). This two-disc set covers their 1978-83 oeuvre and was previously available only via mailorder from Zurich in ‘93 until the riot grrrls at Kill Rock Stars finally stepped up to honor their godmothers. What Sleater-Kinney, Bikini Kill and so many others have inherited was a raging formalist spirit akin to Wire. But where Wire perfected the punk miniature, these Swiss misses were more expansive, pasting together sections of first-wave energy rush like a Kurt Schwitters collage. A phalanx of squeaky toys, rape whistles and non-words brought them closer to the music’s putative roots in Dada than any other band of the era while their several-songs-in-one disorder is detectable in contemporaneous hip-hop - 1981’s eternal “Eisiger Wind” changes lanes as frequently as “Looking for the Perfect Beat” and stands with it as one of the greatest singles of the 80’s. This was punk not as an opportunity for expression but as a strange new world in which to take up residency. You’ll never hear those Sniffin’ Glue chords in the same way again.
- Kevin John
posted by Kevin John Bozelka at 10:04 PM
2 Comments:
Hey Kevin,
If I could find your email address, I'd send you a flyer to my new book, Theorizing Art Cinemas.
Hope all is well with you.
Dave Andrews
Girl, I know all about it. (Sending you an email now.)
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