23 Skidoo, "Seven Songs"
23 Skidoo's debut has been given another chance with this much deserved reissue. Their sinister ethno-funk industrial-dub blueprint remains an essential listen and their suspicion of commercial success seems both quaint and prophetic.
In the UK of the early 1980s there was an independent music chart published in the weekly music papers. The chart was important because it gave credence to labels and artists operating outside the mainstream and highlighted the importance of alternate views of the cultural world. When Seven Songs topped the chart the phrase 23 Skidoo cross-pollinated from literature, conspiracy theory and US slang. Simultaneously, a cult group for the ages was inscribed in the margins of popular music mythology, in pencil, obviously.
At the heart of 23 Skidoo are the Turnbull brothers. Since 1979 they have wed ancient Eastern and African interests to a restlessly modern tribal angst. The group have taken the opportunity to confound expectations whenever possible and have created an uncompromising and seminal musical identity: check the extent of their imitators. In the process, 23 Skidoo have illustrated how to retain relevance and integrity when threatened by hazardously close brushes with success in the music biz. Never a dance band their music has always resembled the neo-primitive urgings of a gang of aesthetics wandering a post-apocalyptic urban desert.
Once again, LTM's fabulous liner notes would be worth the price of this set even if the discs were blank. It's all here: the Jeet Kune Do philosophy, the rejection of major label advances, the identity destroying rip-it-up-and-start-again WOMAD appearance (of a quarter of a century ago), and more. However, on this occasion, with this music, I am not prepared to cherry pick tales for your titillation. Fuck the recession, go to the LTM website , stick your hand in your pocket and cough up some cash. The accompanying booklet details a history of spontaneity, confrontation and exploration that places 23 Skidoo accurately in the tangled milieu and family tree of pre and post-punk creativity amidst Can, Joy Division, ACR, Throbbing Gristle and others. The text is littered with references and quotes from journalists and musicians of the time (and from the Turnbulls themselves) which provide the perfect backdrop to this music—if any were needed. Another must read, elsewhere on the brainwashed site, are Jonathan Dean's comprehensive reviews of all the Ronin reissues from earlier this decade.
Seven Songs was produced by Genesis P-Orridge, Peter Christopherson, and Ken Thomas (who would later assist the Sugarcubes and Sigur Rós). This release also comes with two tracks released in 1981: the 7" single "Last Words" and (the ten minute opening staple of the band's live shows at the time) 12" EP The Gospel Comes To New Guinea, both originally on the Fetish label. In addition it also includes the four tracks of the 1982 12" EP Tearing Up The Plans.
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