-
neumu
Monday, December 23, 2024 
-
-
--archival-captured-cinematronic-continuity error-daily report-datastream-depth of field--
-
--drama-44.1 khz-gramophone-inquisitive-needle drops-picture book-twinklepop--
-
Neumu = Art + Music + Words
Search Neumu:  

illustration



edited by michael goldbergcontact


Chicks On Speed's Subversive Strategies

"It was a concept," starts Alex Murray-Leslie, the genial Australian girl who makes up one part of the international American/Australian/German three-lass sisterhood that is maniacal-multimedia-art-project-cum-cheesy-electropop-party Chicks on Speed, in speaking of the second proper Chicks on Speed album, 99 Cents. "We thought: 'We want to make pop songs, we want to be played on radio, we want to be on TV.' Because there's such a low representation of good music on MTV, whether it's Peaches or Gonzales or musicians on labels like Mute or Novamute or whoever. And, so, we wanted to break through that, to find ourselves in places that're hard to get into in the conservative, tough-minded music industry.

"And we have, a little bit. I mean, I think we have succeeded in so many ways," she continues. "We've been on all this commercial television in Germany. We've been on MTV — although we haven't been played on MTV Europe as much as I thought we would've. We get on, but it's been more like we've been on at 12 at night, because they can't deal with our video. It's so conservative. It's such a shame. It's a shame that we can't change music more than we have. But we'll keep going, because we love the challenge of trying."

99 Cents is, thus, their obvious attempt at a genuine pop album. And it's a long way from the early, subversive art-school/abstract-electro beginnings. The Chicks — Kiki Moorse, Melissa Logan and Murray-Leslie — were ushered in to the pop-music world via a handful of singles on their first record-label imprints, Stop Records and Go Records, beginning with 1998's "Euro-Trash Girl." With production from members of the extended Mego family, COS walked a fine line between damaged digitalia and pantomimed pop. In an event that seemed curious at the time but has since become the norm, the outfit found their faces splashed all over magazines like The Face long before they'd done anything like make an album.

Their first album, Chicks on Speed Will Save Us All! (Chicks on Speed Records), came out in early 2000. Released simultaneously was a limited-edition disc, The Unreleases, which found the entire COS catalogue being cut up and pasted together by the likes of Ramon Bauer and Gerhard Potuznik; this same disc was re-released, as The Re-Releases of The Unreleases, by K later that year. With EP-length exercises — a B-52's covers set, a collaboration with Anglo/German neo-kraut cats Kreidler — following on, the early days of the band were a hive of activity, with a slew of releases throwing out manic pop and stylistic curveballs alike. Chicks on Speed took to the road, and have been heavily touring ever since, and have had 99 Cents ready for release for over a year.

So why has the wait been so long? It's been three years, Murray-Leslie offers, because the band has been busy, and because the record was labored over, and because rock-biz politics have meant that they've had to wait for business shit to get worked out by people who have naught to do with them or their label, Chicks on Speed Records. Such a label belongs to the "Labels" group in Europe, whose ranks include a slew of credible imprints including City Slang, Monika, ~scape, and Bpitchcontrol. When the distributorial rights to the Labels group were sold to EMI, Chicks on Speed suddenly found what amounted to their worldwide rights in the hands of a big rich major label. This was, in theory, an important part of their crossover move, but it also meant that there was a whole lot of schedule-organizing and delays, and it's reached the point, now, where Murray-Leslie, speaking in what is supposedly promotion for her band's new album, sounds like anything but a salesman.

"We started working on this record over two years ago," she states. "But we were just touring all the time, we toured for the best part of two years. You get so many requests to play live here or there, and we actually made the mistake of booking our schedule so it was so packed that we didn't have any time to concentrate on the finished production of our album.

"After our Labels group got sold to EMI, it took almost a year for our record to be licensed around to various major labels," Alex says. "I think it way too long. The album doesn't sound fresh, and it certainly doesn't seem fresh to us. I think it still works, no, but if that album had sat on the shelf any longer, I probably would have rather they didn't bring it out."

It's been on the shelf so long that Chicks on Speed already have their next record completed, and hope to have it out in the new year. Murray-Leslie seems much more enthusiastic about this disc, which, after they tried their best for pop hits, finds, instead, "nothing remotely radio-playable" on it. "It's real trial-and-error, based on jam sessions, and collecting samples and writing songs together," she says of this disc. "We played Korg synthesizers and paint-scrapers and shakers. It's got a much more open, experimental approach. We're not relying on the same things we relied on with 99 Cents, which is an album of pop songs, with a very plastic feel; it's very highly-produced, made on a computer, with everything polished up on the computer. With this new record we tried to very much just work with first takes, and that's it — a get-what-you-get kind of approach. Which is a fun way to work."

It's these songs that COS have already been playing live in recent months, and they're not going to change that just because the prior album has finally come out. "We're meant to be promoting the album 99 Cents, but we don't do that," she says, with smiling matter-of-fact-ness. "We've been playing those songs since three years ago, and, now, we're already playing the songs from the upcoming album. We don't believe in the routine of having an album and promoting it to the fullest, in that traditional way that a band will make a record and then go on tour to sell the record."

A reason, perhaps, they don't indulge in the regular touring machinations of rock bands is that they are not really a rock band. Born in a German art school, they only morphed into a band once their music started taking on a life of its own. That life has since grown and grown, to the point where it's essentially eclipsed the idea that these girls were ever about fashion or installations or, like, performance-art, or whatever.

"We are a project, an art group," Murray-Leslie re-affirms, firmly. "We've always seen ourselves existing outside of music. We actually just made a book, now, that gives reference to a lot of projects we've done over the last four years, and future plans. It puts it more in context of where we stand within fashion, or in the art world, or not within the art world."

She continues: "When you buy a CD, you only get one thing: a CD in a jewel-case with a bad-quality inlay. We can't do anything about that; those are the limitations of the music industry at the moment. As far as live concerts go, we can express ourselves to the utmost, and say what we wanna say, and project all sorts of ideas, from the costumes that we're wearing to the projections behind us to the lighting to the makeup to the shoes. So we definitely have a lot of fun on stage, and all of that fits into the musical context. So, we find a way to express all of our ideas at once; that's very important to us." — Anthony Carew [Thursday, December 4, 2003]


Alejandro Escovedo's Joyous Rebirth

John Vanderslice Kicks Genre

Paul Duncan's Elusive Pop

Stephen Yerkey's Wandering Songs

French Kicks Complete 'Two Thousand'

Spazzy Romanticism: Love Story In Blood Red

Brain Surgeons NYC Rock The Big Questions

Jarboe's 'Men' Charts Turbulent Emotions

Delta 5's Edgy Post-Punk Resurrected

Blitzen Trapper Spiff Things Up

Minus Five: Booze, Betrayal, Bibles and Guns

New Compilation Spotlights Forgotten Folk Guitar Heroes

Chris Brokaw's Experiment In Pop

Old And New With Death Vessel

Silver Jews: Salvation And Redemption

Jana Hunter's Beautiful Doom

Vashti Bunyan Finds Her Voice Again

Nick Castro's Turkish Folk Delight

Katrina Hits New Orleans Musicians Hard

Paula Frazer's Eerie Beauty

The National Find Emotional Balance

Death Cab For Cutie's New Album, Tour

Heavy Trash's Rockabilly Rampage

Help The Wrens Get Their Albums Released!

Devendra Banhart, Andy Cabic Launch Label

Lydia Lunch's Noir Seductions

Bosque Brown's The Real Deal

PDX Pop Now! Fest Announces Lineup

Sarah Dougher Starts Women-Focused Label

Jennifer Gentle's Joyful Psyche

Mountain Goat Darnielle Gets Autobiographical With 'Sunset Tree'

Mia Doi Todd's Beautiful Collaboration

Return of the Gang of Four

Martha Wainwright Finds Her Voice

Brian Jonestown Massacre's Acid Joyride

Solo Disc Due From Pixies' Frank Black

Heartless Bastards' Big-Hearted Rock

Mike Watt's Midlife Journey

The Black Swans Balance Old And New

Nicolai Dunger's Swedish Blues

The Insomniacs' Hard-Edged Pop

Yo La Tengo Collection Due

Juana Molina's 'Homemade' Sound

Beans Evolves

Earlimart's Songs Of Loss

Devendra Banhart's 'Mosquito Drawings'

Negativland Rerelease 'Helter Stupid'

Alina Simone Transforms The Ordinary

Sounds From Nature: Laura Veirs

Octet's Fractured Electric Pop

Sleater-Kinney Working With Lips Producer

The Cult Of Silkworm

The Evolution Of The Concretes

Devendra Banhart's Exuberant New Songs

Catching Up With The Incredible String Band

Gram Rabbit's Desert Visions

Three Indie-Rock Stars Unite As Maritime

Remembering Johnny Ramone

Jarboe's Many Voices

Phil Elvrum's Long Hard Winter

First U.S. Release For Vashti Bunyan Album

Incredible String Band To Tour U.S.

New Music From Lydia Lunch

Le Tigre Protest The Bush War Presidency

Joel RL Phelps: Bleak Songs Rock Hard

Time Tripping With Galaxie 500

Patti Smith Wants Bush Out!

Sharron Kraus: A New Kind Of Folk Music

The Fiery Furnaces' Psychedelic Theater

Harder, Heavier Burning Brides

Sonic Youth's Ongoing Experiment

The Dt's Do It Their Way

Poster Children Cover Political Rock

Rare Thelonious Monk Recordings Due

Uneasy Pop From dios

Beck, Lips, Waits Cover Daniel Johnston

Understanding Franz Ferdinand

The Truly Amazing Joanna Newsom

Mylab's Boundary-Crossing Experiments In Sound

Have You Heard Jolie Holland Whistle?

The 'Magical Realism' Of Vetiver

The Restless, Rootsy Songs Of Eszter Balint

The Sun Sets On The Blasters

Devendra Banhart To Tour U.S.

The East/West Fusion Sounds Of Macha

Destroyer Gets Mellow For Your Blues

TV On The Radio Get Political

Sonic Youth, Modest Mouse To Play Lollapalooza 2004

New Music From The Fall

Apocalyptic Sound From The Intelligence

Fast And Rude With The Casual Dots

'Rejoicing' With Devendra Banhart

New Album, Tour From The Polyphonic Spree

Shearwater Take Wing

Sleater-Kinney To Tour East/West Coasts

Resurrecting Rocket From The Tombs

Visqueen Want To Get A Riot Goin' On

Lloyd Cole Makes A Commotion

Funkstörung's 'Cut-Up' Theory

Waiting For Mirah's C'mon Miracle

Electrelane Find Their Voice

The Television Is Still On!

Experimental Sounds From Hannah Marcus

The Ponys Play With Rayguns

Ex-Mono Men Leader Returns With The Dt's

Mountain Goats' Darnielle Adopts A More Hi-Fi Sound

Sun Kil Moon To Tour U.S., Europe

Nothin' But The Truth From The Von Bondies

Sultans Survive 'Shipwreck'

Sebadoh Reunite For Spring Tour

Xiu Xiu's 'Reality' Rock

Meet The Patients

Beth Orton, M. Ward Make Sadness Taste Sweet

Oneida's Pathway To Ecstasy

Radiohead, Pixies, Dizzee Rascal To Play Coachella

Young People Tour Behind War Prayers

Pixies Tour Dates Announced

Ani DiFranco Tells It Like It Is

Deerhoof Back For 2004 With Milkman

McLusky Set To 'Bring On The Big Guitars' Again

Pixies Reunite For U.S., European Tours

American Music Club, Decemberists To Play NoisePop 2004

Damien Rice Set To Tour U.S.

The Frames Accept Your Love

Punk Rock's A-Frames To Re-Record Third Album

Finally! Mission Of Burma Record New Album

A Solo Detour For Ladybug Transistor's Sasha Bell

Return Of The Old 97's

Spending The Night With Damien Rice

Tindersticks Reissues Due This Spring

The Evolution Of 'A Silver Mt. Zion'

Neil Young Rocks Australia With 'Greendale'

Poster Children Back In Action

'The Great Cat Power Disaster Of 2003'

Chicks On Speed's Subversive Strategies

Oranger At A Crossroad

Peaches On Tour And In Control

Jawbreaker's Complete Dear You Sessions To Be Released

Belle & Sebastian + Trevor Horn = Sunny Pop Nirvana

Von Bondies' Pawn Shoppe Heart

Descendents Are Back!

Modest Mouse Touring; Album Due in 2004

London Suede Take A (Permanent?) Break

Saul Williams Wants You To Think For Yourself

The 'Zen' Sound Of Calexico

Elliott Smith Dead AT 34

Debut Due From Mark Kozelek's Sun Kil Moon

The Hunches: Music That'll 'Fucking Live Forever'

Vic Chesnutt Speaks His Mind

90 Day Men Cancel Tour

Keith Jarrett, Cecil Taylor Highlight SF Jazz Festival

For My Morning Jacket, It's The Music That Matters

EP Due From The Polyphonic Spree

Bright Eyes, Neva Dinova Collaborate On EP

The Rise & Fall & Rise Of Ben Lee

Catching Up With Cheerfully Defiant Tricky

Hanging Around With The Polyphonic Spree

Sophomore Album Due From The Shins

Noise Rock From Iceland's Singapore Sling

Death Cab To Tour U.S.

Rufus Wainwright's Want One Is 'Family Affair'

Death Cab's Transatlanticism On The Way

Heartfelt Rock From Sweden's Last Days Of April

The Minus 5 Get Down With Wilco

Tywanna Jo Baskette's Southern-Gothic Rock

Xiu Xiu's Stewart Takes On 'Gay-bashing'

Portishead Producer Resurfaces Behind New Diva

Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Wire, Primal Scream On Buddyhead Comp

Yeah Yeah Yeahs To Tour West Coast

Sonic Youth, Erase Errata Kick Off 'Buddy Series'

The Locust Are One Scary Band

Damien Rice In The 'Here And Now'

Remembering Karp's Scott Jernigan

ATP-NY Postponed 'Til At Least 2004

The Soul Of Chris Lee

Gits' Frenching The Bully To See Re-Release

Stephen Malkmus Is In Control

Superchunk To Release Rarities Set; Teenage Girls To Swoon As A Result

Summer Touring For The Gossip

Babbling On About Deerhoof

Irish Song Poet Damien Rice's O Released In U.S.

Chatting With ATP's Barry Hogan

Former Digable Planets Frontman Surfaces With Cherrywine

ATP L.A. Festival Rescheduled For Fall

Freakwater's Janet Bean Takes A Solo Turn

Lee's 'Cool Rock'

Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs Highlight YES NEW YORK

Mark Romanek's 'Hurt' Revives Johnny Cash's Career

The Rapture's Post-Punk, Post-Dance Sound

R.E.M., Wilco, Modest Mouse Highlight Bumbershoot Fest

Set Fires To Flames' Sleep-Deprivation Sound

Southern Gothic Past Shadows Verbena's La Musica Negra

The Subtle Evolution Of Yo La Tengo

Spring Tour For Jolie Holland (Plus A Live Album)

Liz Phair Still Pushing The Limits

Gold Chains Wants You To Dance And Think

Young People's War Prayers On The Way



peruse archival
 



-
-snippetcontactsnippetcontributorssnippetvisionsnippethelpsnippetcopyrightsnippetlegalsnippetterms of usesnippetThis site is Copyright © 2003 Insider One LLC
-