I'm not quite sure what to make of it. Revenge is either a nostalgia trip or a bold new offering, or it could be both. I can't tell. The lead track, "Slits Tradition" is a clattering and edgy mess that merges their old blocky punk-reggae sound with 2006 hip-hop beats to decent musical effect. However, the lyrics aren't anything special, featuring Ari Up boasting about the Slits' greatness in a faintly embarrassing dancehall accent. It's a little good, a little not-good, faintly embarrassing, but deeply intriguing.
The second track is more straightforward; an old-school punk workout called "Number One Enemy" that was written in 1976 and belongs completely to that era. From the Sex Pistols-y guitar to the one-note vocals, this is 100% nostalgia trip, albeit a pretty good one.
It's the third of three that's worth the price of admission. "Kill Them With Love" is a dubby and spare drum-and-bass track which puts Up's vocals (which influenced Siouxsie Sioux and Bjork, to name just two) right up front. Although it's not exactly the greatest thing I've ever heard, it does promise good things from a more permanent Slits reunion. It indicates that Up and Pollit still have some of the old magic and possibly some new mojo too, and are not just adults who mistakenly think that they are still "hip" and "with it." If nothing else, the fact that they are trying as adults to revist what they did so very well as teenagers suggests they haven't lost the boldness that made them great.
There's a lot left unsaid by this three-song EP. The original Slits were stunning partly because they were so consciously political, so consciously feminist, and so musically fearless. The risks they took and the rules they broke paid off in spades in 1979, and whether that's because they were too young to know better or too young to care is beside the point. But the Slits are now in their forties, and it's too early to tell whether that crazy-ass energy that made their original work so thrilling and creative has dried up, or merely matured into something new and thrilling.
Article comments
1 - Bill Sherman
I'm heartened to read of the Slits' reunion: I played my import vinyl of Cut to death back in the early 80's - and not just coz I was stuck staring at the album cover for hours at a time . . .
2 - Chico
I made my way over to Alabama yesterday and saw and heard the Slits last night in Birmingham. They were FABULOUS! I expected the show to be good, and it was top-notch.
Chico Harris
Oxford, Mississippi
3 - Connie Phillips
Congrats! This article has been forwarded to the Advance.net websites.