The Mekons

This collaboration with lunatic (sorry, avant-garde) author Kathy Acker intersperses Acker reading from her book of the same name with the Mekons singing tunes inspired by her tale of lesbian pirates. On the plus side: the Mekons get to indulge their experimental urges without worrying too much about the words, and Acker's "libretto" gives Tom Greenhalgh an opportunity to sing a lot of curses in falsetto. On the negative: experiments don't always produce meaningful results; Greenhalgh singing the c-word in falsetto might be the most memorable thing about this record.

For neophytes who have long heard that the Mekons may be the best-kept secret in the
post-punk underground, this is an unpromising album with which to begin a long-term
romance. And for Kathy Acker fans, the Mekons may come across as too boozy and ruddy
for Acker's abstract, albeit X-rated, brand of post-feminism. Which is exactly why these
contrarians got together – cozying up to expectations was never part of the age... More >