Danielle Dax
Jesus Egg That Wept

LA RECENSIONE

For personal reasons, last December I was in Pisa, and while I was there, I went to the used vinyl shop on Via S. Martino.

The shop owner, whom I know, suggests I buy a 7-song EP by a certain Danielle Dax. He plays it for me, and without hesitation, I buy it and take it home.

Danielle Dax was important in the Lemon Kittens. She was the muse, the singer of that group. 

In the early '80s she released Pop Eyes, her first LP. The one I'm talking about is an EP from 1984.

The noteworthy song is the first one, "Evil honky stomp," which I suggest you go listen to on her MySpace. The rhythm of the song is rather awkward and offbeat, immediately contradicted by the diverse styles of the two sides. It transitions from '80s disco music to trance episodes with Arabesque chants, to pop and singer-songwriter music, in a sulfurous and Luciferian magma that leaves you satisfied despite the scant half-hour of this work.

I would say this work, along with Pop Eyes, is the highest point of sweet Danielle's career, a true icon of the '80s, though now forgotten. The next LP, Inky bloaters, would be more indie-disco, leading to the, by many considered disappointing, Blast the human flower which I have never had the opportunity to listen to. Then nothing, her career after 1990 seems to have halted...

If any of you ever want to buy her works, I recommend the inexpensive yet valuable used LPs. The CDs published by the defunct World Serpent Distribution are available used and cost around 100 dollars each.

An exponent of the first new wave, then ready to take off towards the masses, Danielle Dax has always been both accessible and experimental at the same time. The fact that she hasn't released records in twenty years speaks volumes about the difficulties of belonging to a scene that is unfortunately becoming increasingly unknown to most and can only make us nostalgic for those controversial years when we put this wonderful extended play on the turntable...