Customer Reviews

Will Save Us All

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

how can chicks on speed have the 2 #1 albums of the year? well, this and rereleases of the unreleases are essentially the same album. well, actually this is the album, and rereleases of the unreleases is a collage of sorts featuring remixes, interviews, out takes, etc. of these songs. so, if you like albums, buy this one. if you like random craziness, good time summer, and mix tape fodder buy rereleases. or you can buy both! whoo!

oh yeah, in case you were wondering: atari teenage riot + oval + le tigre + books on dadaism = chicks on speed.

Having had the fortune of seeing this band live, I can say that they certainly do live up to the promise of the title: Chicks on Speed are a high-spirited, avant-gaurde electronica Grrl group that deconstruct house, electronica pop, new wave, while generating a deadpan critique of glamour, beauty and fashion.

Purely having fun with the form, they recontextualize the pop sound with early synth beats, vocoders and beatboxes. Editting is jumpy and do-it-yrself, experimental sounds puncture songs, while vocals are refreshingly unenhanced. "Give me back my Man" becomes an industrio-beat box cold play, while their cover of "Warm Leatherette" is perhaps the most athletic and nihlistic its have ever been performed (just to the left of Grace Jone's cover in 82!). "Glamour Girl" is about the only radio/dance-floor friendly listen, but the undertone's are largely absurd and hilarious.

Do yourself a favor and check this disc out, and oh yeah, catch their live show if you ever have the chance!

With the way in which American music is now directed (far downward), it is nice to see such a band as Chicks on Speed gaining momentum here in the US. I first heard Chicks on Speed at the WMF Club in Berlin, fell in love, and had to buy the first WMF album, just to get another taste of COS's raw energy.

C.O.S. is a refreshing blend of powerpop, techno-euro-trash, angry girl rantings, tri-continental lyric sensibilities, and sampling techniques which make you scratch your head and think..."Huh?"

C.O.S. is definetely its own breed of music. However, it is also very accessible. One might easily dismiss it as simple "Arthouse-chic-snob-music", but it really is so much more. Among the tracks, "Kaltes Klares Wasser" is a standout. It has the perfect mix of beat, smart lyrics, and a biting undertone. That, mixed up with a little bit of German, is the formula that works. COS definetely deserves to be noticed, so get used to them, they will "save us all"...right?

Will Save Us All! being COS debut album and their 2000 release and can be defined as elctroclash. COS create music that is very experimental and is not for the person used to top 40 pop music. The album was met with positive reviews. Allmusic, Robert Christgau and Pitchfork Media all gave it high marks. The booklet contains no lyrics and we do not get a list of whom plays what on the album. 4/5.

I dug the "Rereleases of the Unreleases" album on many levels -- including the hilarious cover photo and the band's name. The music also had an anarchic mish-mash aesthetic that was very appealing and playful.

This album is something different. It sounds like they went back and cleaned out everything that was fun in "Releases of the Unreleases," and what's left leaves only the songs themselves, which are weak. "Glamour Girl" is a dumb song mocking the fashion industry in the most obvious way possible.

"Warm Leatherette," is a cover of the old (and rather monotonous, though cool as a one-off) electro song by the Normal, which reference the JG Ballard book "Crash." Chicks on Speed don't update the song in any diverting way, and one can only guess why they bothered covering it.

"Mind Your Own Business" is among the biggest disappointments. There were several amusing versions on "Releases," some of them experimental and purposely messed-up, but entertaining. Here, once again, the funky knob-twiddling-in-a-garage aspect is gone. Instead you get pure song -- and realize how weak it all is.

This garage-electro-punk thing can only go so far in the hands of the uninspired, and Chicks on Speed are fumbling here. I'm curious about their follow-up album....hopefully they found the right mix. But on this album all they have is attitude, and it isn't enough.

Sto aspettando al varco le Chicks on Speed da circa due anni, precisamente dal memorabile concerto alla Royal Festival Hall di Londra (una serata di elettronica, con Pan Sonic e Sonic Youth). Stupirono tutti con sonorità elettroniche travolgenti a supporto di melodie pop molto anni '80. Amore, nostalgia, parodia? Musica ma anche performance: le cinture suonate a mo' di chitarre, gli abiti assurdamente autoprodotti, una serie di gadget dal gusto dada (tutto acquistabile su www.chicksonspeed.com). Incontrai Alex (l'australiana del trio) sulle scale. Donna aggressiva. Parlammo per mezz'ora, bevemmo un Martini. Chiesi un'intervista. Accettò. Quando scoprì che si trattava di Vogue Italia cominciò a negarsi. Scoprii che avevano appena maltrattato Shame Kodwo di Vogue UK per delle domande a loro sgradite. Dunque proposi un'intervista all'incontrario (a loro le domande, a me le risposte). Prima dissero si, poi forse. Sto ancora aspettando. Bello l'ultimo disco, ma passa un po' troppo spesso su MTV. Che le sovversive stiano cambiando atteggiamento? La musica, per ora, è splendida. Tuttavia, temo che un giorno avrò la mia intervista. Quel giorno le Chicks on Speed non saranno più quelle di una volta.

My first Chicks on Speed album was "The unreleases". "Save us All" is the released version of "the unreleases". And now there's also "The Re-releases of the Unreleases". Get it ? Ok.

"Will Save us All" is the "listener-friendly" version of the Chicks' first album, which was only available in a strictly limited edition as "The Unreleases". The best tracks were kept in tact, some interludes were left out. It makes "Will Save us All" more coherent, but "Unreleases" (now widely available as "re-releases of the unreleases") gives you a more complete experience of the Chicks' raving mix of electro goodies. Musicially, the Chicks go from a B-52's cover to Euro-trash house on "End of the Century" (also the final song of their steaming live set). Let the Chicks save you too !

I LOVE THIS CD. IF YOU DO NOT HAVE IT... YOU MUST GET IT, EVEN IF YOU DO NOT LIKE ELECTRO. A CLASSIC IN IT'S ON RIGHT!

I saw chicks on speed live in hyde park in london during the red hot chilli peppers tour in 2004.
Because they'd been booed off the stage the night before in Manchester, John frusciante and Anthony keidis came on before hand and told us to be nice to them.
They said that the first band were cool and had cool clothes, make-up, style etc. At that point i realized they hadn't said anything about there music.
a techno beat started up and they started flailing their arms. the crowd scratched their heads.
The first line was ''can i lick your ice-cream'' and every-one corpsed with laughter.
Their music displays to talent whatsoever and dispite the 'popular' opinion, it is by no means artistic. This is a band with nothing to say and all the hype they need not to say it.
They even hit paint strippers together.
The violinist swore at the audience and they were booed off in just under half an hour.
I will give them this-
They are true punk.

With a name like Chicks On Speed, they are bound to grab the attention of the on-looker passing by in a record store or even achieving a catchy headline in a music magazine. And, for that name, they certianly do look the part. They album sleeve in itselfis enough to showyou hommuch of a crazy bunch the female trio are. By fusing electronica with modern art, Chicks On Speed have manged to cook up a formula that is not only unique,but interesting too.
Although they have opened for the Red Hot Chili Peppers,they sound nothing like the rock outfit. They actually have been booed off stage a couple of times because they're music is of no classification, flirting with cheesy pop on "Euro-Trash Girl" to electronic hard beats on "For All The Boys In The World."
Thier image is a that of fashion-weary punksters, which really undermines the meaning of punk. However, they are very much into the city-fashion-art mode assthey display on the only track worthy of release asa single "Glamour Girl," boasting mid-90's Rupaul-esque catwalk beats.
The rest of Will Save Us All, is a sorry mush of being weird for the sake of being weird. From "Yes I Do!" to the irritatingly long titled "Floating Pyramid Over Frankfurt That The Taxi Driver Saw..." Basically, the wholealbumis a number of shoutsand rants and an attempt at being punk yet in moderation. They have also releaseda book to go along with the albumthat should demonstrate the attempt at being meaninglessly artsy.
The packaging of this product is stellar and their look is just as fabulous.However, don't be fooled by the cover, there is nothing of content in this release. The underdog has lost its flavour since the days of Ani DiFranco.