LESBIANS ON ECSTASY - Lesbians On Ecstasy

A quartet from Montreal (Lynne T, aka Fruity Frankie, on vocals, Veronique Mystique on bass, Bernie Bankrupt on sampler, laptop and keyboards, and "The JackHammer" on electronic and acoustic drums), Lesbians On Ecstasy arrive straight from a thriving dancefloor career that has seen them set fire to the nights of several cult clubs. Their assault-rock, built on a lesbian pride that's more theoretical than genuinely activist, has finally found stable ground in their self-titled debut album. On record, their varied, multiform take on electroclash — more than intriguing on paper, especially in a slow period like this one — fails to actually push past its own limits.

It opens with an enticing "Intro" (though, compared to the rest of the record, a bit pompous), made of martial percussion and robotic synths, and carries on full throttle with the rave-music blast of "Parachute Clubbing", all distorted guitars and overdriven amps, a vocal line straight out of early Cracknell and house-style percussive interludes. "Revolt", industrial-dance with occasional funk leanings, offers up a pointless nod to Tracy Chapman ("Talkin 'bout A Revolution") filtered through the schizoid lo-fi of Cibo Matto, while the bubbling burst of second guitar during the multi-voiced shouted chorus of the laid-back EBM of "Queens On Noise (Bring da Bunny)" is all the quartet really has to say.

"Pleasure Principal" is goa-trance with mixer trickery, accented beats and velvety vocals, a muscular body music of hard guitars, sharp dissonances and closing distortions. "Kündstant Krøving", by K.D. Lang, is Atkins-style techno in android form (vocals filtered and distorted in a cybernetic way, sampler delirium, acid-edged drum-machine breaks). "Bitchsy" is another rave-house cut with brief synth invocations (echoed by the vocals), a bridge with a rhythmic-harmonic shift and playful sampler reworkings.

Once that comparatively superior interlude is over, there's "Tell Me Does She Love The Bass", another dark, claustrophobic dance piece, with a synth reduced to a twisted vibration in the background, and "Closer To The Dark" (opening with vocal contributions from some of the singer's friends), which starts off swirling only to settle into a plain punk-dance chase between metallic guitar riffs and drums (with sporadic drum'n'bass sampler inserts). "Summer Luv" brushes up against glam-fashion with falsetto choruses (and vocal harmonies vaguely indebted to the West Coast sound), plus an excessive use of sampler and drum machine.

Toward the end of the record, "Manipulation" apes Massive Attack's "Exchange", albeit with a far less interesting rhythmic base than Del Naja and co.'s original flair, then dives into a replica of the worst of Madonna's "Bedtime Stories", keeping everything firmly grounded. The live track ("Superdyke!"), rather than closing things out in style — or at least attempting a surprise last-minute coup — works against the album instead.

Were it not for the central trio of "Pleasure Principal"-"Kündstant Krøving"-"Bitchsy", pleasant if dated-sounding, the whole thing would amount to very little. Crudeness and vulgarity, even when interchangeable with cheap entertainment, run rampant throughout. Recorded at the legendary Hotel2Tango. Followed by "Giggle In The Dark" (Alien8, 2005), a remix album featuring 1-Speed Bike, Le Tigre, Dj AI, Tracy And The Plastics, Kids On T.V., Scream Club, Sean Kosa.

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30/04/2026