Food And Shelter
Square Dance

THE REVIEW

If we want to say that this work is synth-pop, we can certainly say that, but as you listen, it reveals itself to be not so easily classified, and if we were to categorize it as just synth-pop, it would be a disservice.

But here the musical transitions are deceptive; we seem to hear catchy tunes, catchily misleading they are, but when the veil drops, we realize how this misunderstood simplicity initially misled us, because after a few listens, the album reveals itself as “cutting” (truly like its cover) and forces you to be there because it naturally calls you.

Released in 1984 by the label Resistance Records, which explicates the album in few (but really few) copies, with a trio formed by Debbie Spinelli (17 Pygmies, Radwaste, Spirit Girls), Fey Ruza (17 Pygmies), and Russell Jessum (17 Pygmies, Paniolo) who is also the author of lyrics and music, as well as the co-founder of that underground hub that was the AntiClub in Los Angeles. The cover is a metal plate that contains the album, musically referring to the beginning of that Californian trance scene that was semi-officially started with that “Tragic Figures” by the Savage Republic from 1982.

And it is also for this metal plate that the protagonists of the album literally put their blood into the work because some copies are stained with a dark drip due to the fact that when they assembled it all, inserting the album “home made” into the biting cover, they cut themselves…

My copy no, it does not have stains, but I understand the incident because whenever I handle the album to listen to it, I risk injuring myself. The thing, moreover, is positive because it becomes an exercise in attention and concentration later rewarded by the remarkable sound content, it is preparatory to the presence it requires of you. But then it all turns into a pleasure when the notes press on, and we all find ourselves in the wonderland of the wave, dark, industrial, electronic and synth, naturally, and these jolts capture us with their coherent delirium: the danceable nature of the tracks propels us into a swirling alienating dancehall, having the merit of deluding us about direct accessibility but then opening to more eclectic scenarios.

And we find ourselves today talking about it in the present because the musical offering is so current, remember it’s 35 years old… They whisper and shout different ways of being, structured to live vertically and strengthened by their total estrangement from competition but suggestive, inviting superior involvement through an apparent immediacy of sounds.

And they reveal themselves to be aggregating for the cohesion they bring, challenging disparate tastes: the empirical proof is that tracks like “Changing My Mind” or “Surveillance” harmonize "those above and those below", contributing to assisting the approach of understanding the unity that we share as a human species. And the involvement is so dense even with the other pieces not specifically “danceable” that the situation becomes almost tangible.

Let us be tossed about by this fierce yet tasty “synth”: “What Is The Problem?” In short, there’s fun to be had, guaranteed! May I have a bleeding fit. Enjoy!