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Damnit, these chicks are just helping build my
case to move to Canada! Montreal-based Lesbians On Ecstasy
roll with humor and hard dance beats. And LOE does it without
playing the same licks twice, as is so often the problem
on dance albums when every song starts to sound the same.
Lesbians
On Ecstasy spent last Fall running around with Le
Tigre after they released their self-titled CD in time
for Halloween. LOE is Bernie Bankrupt playing the Ensonique,
Veronique Mystique on bass, drummer Jackie “the Jackhammer,”
and lead vocalist Fruity Frank.
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Their
gig photos look like a page out of the Tribe 8 school of punk-dyke
couture, very leather daddy chic. LOE can also be seen as their
occasional side project, Dykes On Crack, that includes a bigger
drum kit for the Jackhammer to make like The Muppet Show’s
Animal.
The
hook for LOE is that they take familiar
lesbian lyrical standards from k.d. lang, Melissa
Etheridge, and the Indigo Girls and slam them into a variety
of house beats with occasional deadpan punk cultural commentary
thrown in. This album is heavily influenced by the mashup movement
of the last couple years, but with more original music and less
sampling then 2 Many DJs or DJ Dangermouse.
“Kundstandt
Kroving” apes the k.d. lang hit while poking fun at consumer
culture and mixing in that ubiquitous beat from every lesbian
dance club circa 1996. You’ll either recognize it and laugh,
or you didn’t go out that year. But wait, there’s
more: the song gets a weird and spacey techno edge like Nina Hagen
ate Kraftwerk and they didn’t sit well with her. The songs
a little fractured, but fun.
Track
two, “Parachute Clubbing,” holds a disco-y happy house
lesson in queer politics and history. I’m going to geek
out here for a minute, so skip ahead if you need to. The Parachute
Club was a seven member band formed in Toronto back in the late
70s/early 80s. They are best known for their song “Rise
Up” that spoke out about gay rights and racial equality.
They were a mixed band of men and women with a vision for a better
world that was recognized and honored in Canada. After the band
broke up, several members continued on in different artistic directions.
The Parachute Club’s lead singer Lorraine Segato is still
recording and working as an artist for social justice.
“The
Pleasure Principal” spins a naughty scenario that conjures
images of all girl schools mixed with the cheesy guitar soundtrack
of a breakout scene from a women in prison movie. The beat is
all gay boy circuit party, but the guitar is straight up blaster
ala Leslie Mah of Tribe 8. More goofy then dirty sexy, for ladies
that laugh when someone slips a hand in their pants.
“Tell
Does She Love The Bass” ties the panties of the Melissa
Etheridge classic in a knot and leaves it in the neighbors mailbox.
Then LOE wakes up Tracy Chapman’s sleepy “Talkin Bout
A Revolution” with “Revolt" like a wrecking ball
busting through the living room. These women sound like they are
actually starting a revolution.
And
to complete the rewriting of the monsters of lesbian
rock, LOE unleashes “Closer to the Dark” an Indigo
Girls ripper. They rock some vicious machine gun percussion that
reminded me of British drum and bass like Headrillaz, with enough
scratch to satisfy any itch that smoothly evolves into screaming
punk vocals. It’s cool. Right now, no dyke bands that I
know of can touch this.
This
album does have its more ambient, sweet moments as well. "Manipulation"
is a saccharine, slowed-down ode to the toxic relationship. It’s
full of bubbling techno flare that adds to the hilariously ominous
cello solo, poking fun at the heavy handed drama and deadly dull
oversharing indicative of folky ballads about lesbian relationships.
This is great if you recently broke up with a jerk and are feeling
nostalgic about her.
Funnier
than Peaches and more danceable
then Le Tigre, Lesbians On Ecstasy is fantastic!
Get
the Lesbians on Ecstasy CD
or read more on their official
site
