Consumer Guide Album

Liliput: Liliput [Rough Trade, 1982]
Formerly Kleenex has kept the faith even though only the lead cuts pack the goofy punch of "Split"'s massed whistles and saxophones, or the chaotic rallying cry "Eisiger Wind"--not to mention "U," or "You," or "Ain't You." Where the Slits aspire to Mango and the Raincoats to ECM and the Au Pairs to Grunt, these women clearly belong with the rest of Rough Trade's amateur anarchohumanists; they're the best thing to happen to Switzerland since John Berger. In another context I might disapprove of the clumsy white funk toward which their instrumental atmosphere has evolved, or fret about just what their references to ichor, stilts, and kicking heels mean. But this music combines the spirit of a kindergarten rhythm band with the sophistication of a wartime art school, just like the real Cabaret Voltaire. B+