Robert Christgau: Dean of American Rock Critics

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Consumer Guide Album

Onetwothree: Onetwothree [Kill Rock Stars, 2021]
The most musically prominent of this newly constituted trio of female Swiss bassists is Klaudia Schifferle, who as Klaudia Schiff anchored the legendary Rough Trade proto-grrrlpunk Kleenex until Kimberly-Clark forced them to rename themselves Liliput. Somewhat surprisingly, they evoke without imitating the abrupt, sexy, cockeyed, herky-jerk whimsy of that legendary band, and not only that: direct comparison with disc two of Liliput's complete works establishes that while late Liliput were certainly more original--that was four decades ago, before we sussed how many bands would strip down, gussy up, speed up, slow down, poppify, funkify, aggrandize, politicize, depoliticize, feminize, phallicize, and otherwise fuck with musical tactics that felt so pure and absolute coming from the Ramones and the Sniffin' Glue subscription list--Onetwothree are on average more fetching, more varied, and more literary. Schifferle is the most prominent voice. "Buy Buy" best evokes the Liliput sound. The subject of the six-minute closer "Things" is more or less everything. A-