Review: Lydia Lunch & Philip Petit – 'Taste Our Voodoo'

LYDIA LUNCH & PHILIPPE PETIT 

'Taste Our Voodoo' 

RUSTBLADE RECORDS 

Lydia Lunch is no stranger to collaborations. The vocalist/poet/actress/writer has performed as part of a number of bands as well as with the likes of Clint Ruin, Einsturzende Neubauten, Henry Rollins, Sonic Youth, Oxbow and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez to name a few. But no matter what she does or who she works with you can guarantee the results are going to be, unique and interesting... perhaps even a little frightening.

Lunch's latest collaboration 'Taste Our Voodoo' sees her partner up with avant garde instrumentalist Philippe Petit, who has himself had a pretty long list of collaborations in his discography. The combination of the two melds Petit's strange and sinister soundscapes with Lunch's punky spoken word delivery. Despite the four 20-minute tracks being recorded live over a period of two-and-a-half years, the overall effect is almost like listening to the result of an exquisite corpse, as though each artist wrote performed and recorded their part separately and yet they strangely come together as a whole.

Each of the tracks is comprised of several parts. With Lunch's sharp and distinctive tone ranging from brash and acerbic to distant and psychedelic. At the same time Petit's soundscapes move between dark industrial noise and trippy drone. It doesn't always hit the mark with many points feeling too disjointed and unconnected from each other. However when it does come together it sounds wonderfully nightmarish.

This is quite a rough and ready recording with crackles, hiss and microphone noise frequently distinct. The sound isn't fantastic and the mix feels very much as though it was done on the fly. But it is more of performance orientated document rather than a polished studio release.

There is no rhythm to latch on to and very little in the way of melody. This is an expressive work, and few are more expressive than Lunch. It won't be of interest to anyone outside of those into experimental electronics, noise and the general avant garde. Yet it is no less a notable pairing of artists.

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