8-Eyed Spy [CD]

Personnel: Lydia Lunch, Pat Irwin, Michael Paumgardhen, Jim Sclavunos, George Scott III. Lydia Lunch, member of defunct late-70s punk/no wave band Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, was known for an extreme, often confrontational style. In between Teenage Jesus and the beginning of her solo career, she formed 8-Eyed Spy, a band that took the cacophony of her first band and made it more palatable with elements of post-punk and funk. Skronking saxophone and pounding basslines define this collection, with 15 tracks of Lunch's off-the-wall sing/speak style, one that would mature into the erotic/atonal bent that defined her solo career. On songs such as "Run Through the Jungle," it's clear where post-feminist bands such as Huggybear and Heavens to Betsy culled their inspiration. A chilling voice punctuates a background of circular bass notes and jangly guitar amidst subtle cymbal-driven rhythms. Seminal stuff.