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State of the Arts 2006Sept. 22, 2006 - Dec. 31, 2006Highlights from the Fall Arts Guide
The SlitsSunday, Nov. 5 As the band’s name more than hints, the Slits began as fuck-you fem-punks. In 1977–1978, the original members were fellow travelers of the Clash and Sex Pistols who were known for playing so slipshod that it made Sid Vicious sound like a virtuoso. When cohorts defected to the Mo-dettes and the Raincoats, singer Arianna “Ari Up” Forster realigned with guitarist Viv Albertine, bassist Tessa Pollitt, and (male) drummer Budgie—who was excluded from the mud-caked topless shot on the cover of the band’s shockingly good 1979 debut, Cut. Yes, the Slits were going native, with their reggae obsession soon leading to the Gaea-worshipping worldbeat of their second (and last) proper album, Return of the Giant Slits. But the tense, sprung, joyously indignant Cut was ideally balanced between the two worlds; Dennis Bovell’s dubby production made the absolute most of the band’s primitivism while Up smartly critiqued consumerism, romance, and life in Ladbroke Grove. If that version of the Slits didn’t last long, the title of their comeback EP—Revenge of the Killer Slits—indicates that it’s returning. The disc was recorded with Up, Pollitt, and such old comrades as Pistols drummer Paul Cook and Rema Rema/Adam & the Ants guitarist Marco Pirroni, which suggests the reconstituted Slits are thinking more of 1979 than the New-Age stepping that followed. The Slits perform with the Apes and Eyes of the Killer Robot Sunday, Nov. 5, at 8:30 p.m. at the Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW. $12. (202) 667-7960. (Mark Jenkins)
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Copyright © 2006 Washington Free Weekly Inc.
