As careful readers of the ‘Hemorhhage know, I’ve been making up for 15 years of lost time and diving in deep to the wild world of loopy late 90s UK girlpunk, pop and noise. The label Slampt – wholly unknown to me before this year – seemed to be a prime mover in a world of their own making, with jarring lo-fi pop and angular punk bands like Lung Leg, Sally Skull, The Yummy Fur, Golden Starlet and others passing through their ranks at various times. We love ’em. Not all of ’em, but we love a bunch of it when we’re in the mood, you know.

Thanks to a blog called PUKEKOS, who are perhaps the only mp3 blog whose files are still active (my old one Detailed Twang also still has a bunch of active stuff, BTW), I discovered the Crampsian shout-and-shriek sounds of BETTE DAVIS AND THE BALCONETTES recently. They too spent some time on Slampt. 

Their discography is wobbly and uneven, but a few cacophonous gems totally stand out, like this one, “Surf Surf Kill Kill”, the A-side of a 45 on Damaged Goods in 1998. It sounds like the Maximum Rock & Roll radio show theme song crossed w/ “Golf” by Art Phag, with a bored, drunk English girl spitting out a poetry slam on top. The sleeve also features the best anthropomorphic use of a bear since Monoshock’s “Primitive Zippo” 45, a single that I put out.

Outstanding stuff. Play loud for maximum ear bleed.