I had some difficulty processing the concept of Chicks on Speed at first. When I'd come across a reference to the band, they'd generally be described as some retro new wave thing. Then I'd notice later that they were on Mego, a label known for releasing the most abstract and challenging laptop music going, and that they had some kind of political/theoretical underpinnings. "I must have that new wave angle wrong," I thought to myself. "They must be some kind of ambient terrorist provocateurs like Ultra Red or Terre Thaemlitz."
But I heard correctly. Chicks on Speed are obsessed with the sounds of the 80's, they do have a political agenda, and they are on Mego. They're three women from Munich (one of whom is American) and Chicks on Speed is merely the latest in a long line of art projects. This work seeks to challenge some assumptions about women or music or women in music. Or something like that. I honestly didn't spend a lot of time trying to decipher the political slant. It's feminist in some way-- I gathered that much-- but the point of view is not terribly clear. Fortunately, it doesn't matter much when it comes to getting down to digging these tunes, a nice mix of recontextualized covers and originals.
"Glamour Girl," a fantastically groovy house number inspired in some respect by C+C Music Factory, seems to be making some sort of comment about the empty gestures involved with a woman getting dolled up for a night on the town. "She's a glamour girl, she stands so still/ Wears a feather bra, her hair is so high/ It starts to sway when she brushes her teeth/ Five times a day." Since when is good oral hygiene supposed to be a statement about power relationships? The glamour girl may need a haircut, but she'll likely have the last laugh and the toothiest smile. Sitting here in my filthy undershirt with a head full of cavities, it's hard to empathize.
So you'll forgive me if I fail to judge this album on its political merits. I'm just so much more interested in how the sparse electro machinations on this version of Normal's "Warm Leatherette" feel wired into my spine, forcing me to sway uncontrollably whenever the song plays. It's like the aural equivalent of a portrait of Gary Numan laser-carved out of a sheet of tin.
The Megoisms bubble up to the surface on the Chicks' cover of the B-52's "Give Me Back My Man." The vocals are heavily processed and treated like another rhythmic component, and the lockstep beat snatches the Neu! pulse back from the new wavers and reclaims it for Deutschland once and for all. Also impressive on the DSP front is "Little Star," which features a slowly building morass of digital noise that finally grows into a bittersweet pop tune as the spoken vocals morph into melody.
Perhaps the most interesting track here is the last, a cover of Cracker's "Euro Trash Girl." It's striking partly because it comes from three women who could easily have been the objects of David Lowery's affection, but the music is what makes it. Brilliantly, they strip the song down to repetitious, minimal techno, and sound positively bored speaking the vocals. Maybe for their next record, they'll do some incisive gender commentary with a glitch version of "Mr. Wrong." In any case, I'll probably be checking it out.
