Dunno about you, but however exciting a number of the new breed of punk-funk outfits (The Rapture, Radio 4 etc) seem to be, it's been almost entirely a male preserve so far. Indeed, it's only with the recent emergence of Pretty Girls Make Graves that there's been any real iconic female presence. And no, Karen O doesn't count: she's already been spuriously linked with enough scenes and I'm certainly not trying to shoehorn her in here.
So, at least in principle, the idea of some femmy punk-funk action sounds like a whizz. Can it be provided by ERASE ERRATA: a spunkier-than-thou all-(riot)-grrl quartet from San Francisco's Bay Area and the re-issue of their 2001 debut album "Other Animals"?
Well, it's certainly true to say that within the space of one song, the actually-not-very-good explosion in a paint factory madness of "Tongue Tied" Erase Errata are already recalling both The Slits and The Raincoats in terms of the energy and wilful amateurism. Hell, drummer Bianca Sparta even xeroxes Palmolive's furious thrashing. Trouble is, unlike classic proto-feminist anthems like "Shoplifting" (Slits) and "Off-Duty Trip" (Raincoats), I can't truly see myself returning to anything here twenty years from now.
To be brutally honest, "Other Animals" mainlines mostly on adrenaline alone. Yes, there's the odd moment of inspiration: "Billy Mummy", the metronomic precision of "Marathon" and the brilliantly-titled "How To Tell Yourself From A Television" all rise from the murk, thanks to an injection of much-needed discipline but for the most part, this is a riot of day-glo ideas that never stay around long enough to be finished off properly.
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A song like "High Society" is a case in point. Over aneamic, sludgy blues that sounds like bad Birthday Party offcuts, singer Jenny Hoyston spouts all kinds of drivel, while the band threaten very little and fall apart horribly. Elsewhere, things like "French Canadia" parade tuneless, arty twaddle in place of tunes and the likes of "Delivery" and "1 Minute" just make you yawn: quite a feat considering they're only around the minute mark in duration. Just to add a final irony, "Other Animals are #1" even briefly apes The Minutemen before conking out wilfully. Who are the jackasses now, it seems?
Your reviewer holds great affection for The Slits, The Raincoats and a whole host of uncompromising female performers who are more than capable of showing the boys how it's done. He'd hoped Erase Errata would soon be added to this list, but "Other Animals" only parades a litany of sludgy, eminently forgettable tracks that try way, way too hard. Talk about missed opportunity.
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