“We shop more than other people / We don’t play guitars”. As if rock’n’roll could have abolished capitalism. He never could. The Chicks On Speed’s commitment to the shopping spree can also be read in a Dadaist-political context; the track comes as a techno-rock boomer with rap slogans from the art school, and it integrates the Munich trio’s music quite well on this 5-LP compilation. Elegance and clarity mixed in the music of the two art students Alex Murray-Leslie (Australian-born) and Melissa Logan (American), accompanied in the early years by the stylist Kiki Moorse, with transformative spectacle, commercial criticism, subversion and onomatopoeic ironization.
Editorial recommendations
With transformative spectacle, commercial criticism, subversion and onomatopoeic ironization
Their cover versions and collaborations had the furor of game changers and caused an international sensation. The Chicks On Speed version of the Malaria! classic “Cold Clear Water” is still at the forefront, it has become a classic itself. This also applies to “Warm Leatherette” (Daniel Miller cover, also from 2000). With the 41 tracks from 28 years jumbled together, it’s such a thing (you always want to skip). The fact that new songs (the entire album HEARANDNOW TOPIA) from this year were thrown into this program may indulge the penchant for chaos, but it really tears the box set apart.
What an electronic delight tracks like “Yes I Do” (feat. Die Goldenen Lemons, 2001) and “Madalyn Albright’s Answer” (2004) could bring to pop, compared to newcomers like “Tension” or “Deep Dark Ocean”, which were somewhat pompous echoes of the brain-pounding super-performance design songs of the turn of the millennium resonate. And anyway: Why didn’t anyone here think of Delta 5’s “Mind Your Own Business” cover?
This review first appeared in Musikexpress 11/2025.