April 20, 2001
Malaria! Vs Chicks On Speed : Kaltes Klares Wasser
Recalls that brief but fertile New Wave period when disco was nervy, spiky and provocative.
The Chicks are an acquired taste, no question, but their total fuck-you unpredictability remains an appealing asset. Just when you have them pegged as eternally uncommercial art pranksters they go and score a Top 20 hit in Germany with this deadpan robo-disco makeover of an ancient tune by Berlin's original early-'80s electro-punk grrrls Malaria! In multiple versions featuring the song's originators, plus a platoon of Teutonic gothcore remixers, 'Kaltes Klares Wasser' recalls that brief but fertile New Wave period when disco was nervy, spiky and provocative. Achtung.
Stephen Dalton
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