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The Mekons are obviously bored with the limitations imposed by standard rock'n'roll. After taking part in a recent performance art piece by Vito Acconci at the DIA Center in New York, they embarked on a collaboration with writer Kathy Acker, best known for her William Burroughs-inspired cut-up methods and sexually-explicit content. Pussy, King Of The Pirates is the musical companion to Acker's simultaneously released novel of the same name. The story is about a young woman's sexual coming of age, and, consistent with the rogue theme, the Mekons romp through everything from religious chanting to heavy metal while still maintaining a pop center. Thanks to the anchor of the story, the band ties together with deceptive facility new material that, in another setting, might seem aimless.
The record alternates Acker reading a passage from her novel with songs co-written by her and The Mekons. References to pussys abound, and singer Sally Timms shouts such liberating notions as "the moon equals cracks" in a part of her anatomy; rock'n'roll has rarely sounded so rambunctious. Song titles like "Ostracism's Song to Pussycat" are announced deadpan before their performance, and the Mekons explore every goofy musical backing they can create for bizarrely insightful Acker declarations, like her definition of climax as when the skin of a particular orifice "comes out like a rose." In this context it is quite suitable that the story's two protagonists, O and Ange, meet a loner woman named Antigone in the Bald Headed Pub, where "girls lie all over the floor except when they lie on each other;" the Mekons answer with "Antigone Speaks About Herself," a super-synth, dance-mix track that will hold its own on any rave set list.
"Captured By Pirates" is the record's five minute finale, where Ange descends into the "big O" backed by the Mekons' embellishing instrumentation, and a retinue of girl pirates and characters with names like Growly Bear. Although Acker's soft-spoken, innocent rendering of her tale occasionally grows irritating, the humorous application in song and spirit lends a fresh feel to this attempt at an art form that is still, dare I say, in virgin territory
--David Gendelman