The Slits – Trapped Animal

To understand The Slits, we have to take a look at their history. I mean, I have even heard about the Slits about the same time the Riot Grrrls thing started up in the early 90s, and by that time they had already split up. You see, back then, we didn’t have the internet, most of the stories and mythology were read in letters and fanzines. Fanzines were important to indie music, because the major publications did not focus into these small niche.

The Slits shocked me when it was announced for their 30^th anniversary forming the band, that they had reformed. I believe only two of the original band members (Ari Up and Tessa Pollitt) makes up the new formation, but this is pretty common as far as reformed bands are concerned (see Guns n Roses, for example).

Most new “girl” band fans should pick up their debut 1979 album, Cut, as sort of a companion to their latest 2009 release Trapped Animal. Despite being thirty years apart, they sound complementary to each other. In some ways, my theory is that Animal is the direct sequel to Cut.

If words like raw, primal, tribal, experimental, doesn’t appeal to you, then you probably won’t like their music. While I do not generally like the pots & pans music that’s so popular today, I do think The Slits are slightly better than most of the modern stuff. They’ve been doing it for ages, and, unlike modern music, they actually sing and sometime even have catchy melodies.

The other thing The Slits have going for them is that they’re always tackling political and human right issues. “Issues” deals with child abuse, while “Ask Ma” deals about women rights. These kind of “freedom”/equality topics are generally associated with reggae music, and there are a few songs, “Babylon”, & “Reggae Gypsy”, on the new album that sounds a bit like reggae. Although, to be fair, The Slits have always been known to fuse a bit of reggae rhythms and angry female vocals.

My favorite song is “Cry Baby”, which sounds more like a 60s girl group pop song than the usual Slits style. And speaking of not in their style, “Be It”, sounds like they’re singing in Japanese? It’s brilliant, even though I have absolutely no idea what they’re singing about. They are so different that if these songs randomly comes on the radio, you’d never guess it was the Slits, and I think that’s saying something about their diversity and flexibility in the type of music they produce.

So find out why Le Tigre name checked The Slits, among others, in their song “Hot Topic“. It’s because The Slits are, and is, one of the most influencial and important band. Their latest album is Trapped Animal and available at all online stores. Old fans will welcome the new songs, while new fans will be in for a treat with Trapped Animal.