instant sin sheds skin

Neneh Cherry has a story far older than her recent collaboration on Gorillaz "Kids With Guns". It even goes back further than her huge late-80s single "Buffalo Stance". Perhaps it first began with the union of an artist and a musician in the 60s. Soon, her new step-father, Don Cherry, stepped in. Raised around a deluge of music definitely had its effects on a young Neneh, as the family would often tour with Don.

But all this didn't stop her from rebelling either. Neneh dropped out of school, moved to London and formed a punk band as a teenager. Eventually she ended up joining a new group with part of the Pop Group and naming themselves after a Roland Kirk LP.

Rip, Rig & Panic gets lumped in with the post-punk scene going on at the time - and they did have many similarities - but they were far beyond funky abrasive tunes for the new wave punks to dance to. Often mixing in jazz flourishes of piano, free-jazz horns and flat out weirdness. Existing from 81-83, they managed to put out 3 albums and a half-dozen singles over the time.

Listening again they might be the direct ancestor of Dutch kitchen sink punks like Dogfaced Hermans. Or maybe not. Regardless, the RRP stuff is quite hard to find but a couple of tracks are available on the new GRLZ compilation along with a dozen other great tracks of estrogen-laced post-punk. Including Maximum Joy who I mentioned a last week.

Rip, Rig & Panic - You're My Kind of Climate
Rip, Rig & Panic - Storm the Reality Asylum