LiLiPUT vs. Sugarcubes

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LiLiPUT = midpoint between the Shaggs and the Sugarcubes? I think the 'Cubes are actually RILLY IMPORTANT because they brought aspects of 'outsider music' into the mainstream, which I don't think had been done outside a novelty context (Tiny Tim etc) before. I kind of OD'd on them back in the day tho, so I listen to Kleenex/LiLiPUT more now.

― dave q, Saturday, 3 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I beliee the 'punk/reggae crossover' ethos was actually a result of bands like the Slits not having very good drummers, if you try and play a simple 'rock' beat and fuck it up it often comes out like reggae - accidental fusion! Which would be way cooler than if they actually meant to do it.

― dave q, Saturday, 3 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

metaquestion: accidental fusion better than actual fusion? does this make austin wiggins the bill laswell of outsider music? ;)

― jess, Saturday, 3 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Liliput didn't have an Eeyore I mean an Einor so Liliput > Sugarcubes.

Regarding bad Slits drummers: Are you referring to Palmolive or Budgie or both?

― Andy, Saturday, 3 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Budgie's drumming on "Cut" is ace. I'll take Kleenex/Liliput over the wretched 'cubes any day. I'm not sure what they're supposed to have brought into the mainstream- care to explain dave q?

What I really dislike about The Sugarcubes is this idea that they were somehow creating really spontaneous art all over the place, and being from Iceland somehow had a pure, 'naive' take on rock/pop. Emperor's new clothes! They were, in fact, a very competent, even professional, indie-band with an irritating singer and a shouting, trumpet-bothering clown in tow.

Bjork's solo stuff is pretentious, utterly worthless, po-faced shite, too.

― Dr. C, Saturday, 3 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"What I really dislike about The Sugarcubes is this idea..." = Lame. Please criticize music, not marketing strategies or hype.

― Ryan A White, Saturday, 3 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

my mum and dad both like Bjork! (Dad = 70 this year)

So I like her too :P

Palmolive = better drummer than Budgie. Slits did reggae cuz Tessa = greatest white bass playa since er Chris Squire (except she did reggae). Other two slits = useless sadly.

― mark s, Saturday, 3 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Mark, I think you've thrown a wobbly -- aren't you forgetting someone?

― Andy, Saturday, 3 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

pretty squarely "otm" there mark.

yeah & whatever, Dr C.'s " in fact, a very competent, even professional, indie-band with an irritating singer and a shouting, trumpet-bothering clown in tow. " is an accurate assessment of the Sugarcubes, I never liked em. Kleenex I only know a few singles by but they are much better.

― duane, Saturday, 3 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i cannot agree with you abt carl palmer if that's what you mean andy

― mark s, Saturday, 3 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

(oh bah don't attempt comedy after yr bedtime mark s: greg lake greg lake greg lake and it wasn't funny anyway)

Who/what? If it's someone in a Zappa band I shall have to kill you.

― mark s, Saturday, 3 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I still insist the Sugarcubes are totally descended from the Slits

― Mike Hanle y, Saturday, 3 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

You know, I was listening to _Cut_ last night (officially, for the first time in a legitimate audio format), and I couldn't help but think of Ari Up as an inspiration for Bjork's vocal flights of fancy.

― David Raposa, Saturday, 3 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Can't go along with mark s when he sez other two Slits ae useless. Viv Albertine was a most excellent scratchy punkfunk guitarist.

Ryan - OK then. The music was dire.

― Dr. C, Sunday, 4 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i cannot agree with you abt carl palmer if that's what you mean andy

What are you talking about? The Crazy World of Arthur Brown is a GRATE record.

― Andy, Sunday, 4 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

yes yes buy who is my wobbly, i am fresh and awake now and writing an angry letter to wire mag, so i need to be aware of my weaknesses and lacunae, also playing CUT.

at 45 rpm oops!! hang on...

hey it's seriously grate at 45 rpm: i haf made a critical breakthru! (in other news, for DECADES i always put cut in my top ten w/o evah actually LIKING it that much, so my zag to the zig is really just an overzealous corrective, to appreciating the idea not the groove)

L tells me that Cath Carroll's original review in City Fun was a rant abt the Roedean Junior Hockey Team, which also has a wee bit of force

― mark s, Sunday, 4 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

buy = but

― mark s, Sunday, 4 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Yr wobbly = yr glaring omission = a certain PiL bassist by the name of __________ (not Bill Laswell).

― Andy, Sunday, 4 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

wobble = arfter tessa not before: hence c.squire stands

― mark s, Sunday, 4 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Chris Squire NO! Adenoidal mid-range tone = lack of bottom end causing Yes music to float away like cotton-candy unicorn cloud etc.

Slits = outsider music + insider culture, worst combination possible

― dave q, Sunday, 4 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I still like them though. Imagine that, the Slits a 'guilty pleasure'!

― dave q, Sunday, 4 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The Slits are a guilty dislike for me. Tom Cox himself (thanx for the reminder Nick!) could write about them and I'd still be drooling but apart from the Marvin Gaye cover the actual music's never done nearly as much for me as I'd want it to.

― Tom, Sunday, 4 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I heard the Au Pairs for the first time last night, to be off-topic.

― Sean, Sunday, 4 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

one year passes...

I don't think that LiLiPUT sound very much like the Slits at all, and wonder if people link them mostly because they've been written about as if they're the same thing. I know they were both punk-ish bands, had mostly female members and had records released on Rough Trade, but I still wonder if they get lumped* together because people have often read about them in the same sentence (I know that goes back a long way in English music-publications - I don't know about Swiss ones) and then go on to write about them that way.

I think the comment about "outsider music + insider culture" is pretty interesting. It may be close to describing why the Slits' music bothers me just slightly.

*or liked

― Tom (a different one), Friday, 20 December 2002 18:15 (twenty-two years ago)

I think we had a similar discussion before .

KUKL (on the Crass label), Bjork's band before the 'cubes, did remind me a bit of the Slits, only they were more abrasive. The Sugarcubes also came from Purrkur Pillnikk, who were also working the arty post-punk thing.

Liliput did have the dance beats thing going on, so I think the Slits comparison is fair enough...but I think they were a lot better than the Slits, and as far as I'm concerned, far, far better than the Sugarcubes.

― Kerry (dymaxia), Friday, 20 December 2002 18:43 (twenty-two years ago)

four months pass...

what's so "outsider" abt the Slits?

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 24 April 2003 14:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, seriously. Ari Up a.k.a. Medusa is one of the most famous dancers in Jamaica.

― die9o (dhadis), Thursday, 24 April 2003 15:29 (twenty-two years ago)

four months pass...

Much as I love Bkork I'm beginning to think the Sugarcubes were useless.

Anyone know where I can mail order the Kleenex/liliput 2CD anthology in the uk?

― mei (mei), Friday, 29 August 2003 12:05 (twenty-one years ago)

nine years pass...

Um, hell yeah?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY2nXUUvwg4

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 6 June 2013 04:15 (eleven years ago)

don't know much about LiLiPUT/Kleenex but am listening to them now and they seem interesting, but the comparison with the Sugarcubes is just unfair to them.

― the strange and important sound of the synthesizer (Treeship), Thursday, 6 June 2013 04:24 (eleven years ago)

Dave Q's logic was never of this earth (for which I still thank him).

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 6 June 2013 04:25 (eleven years ago)

nine years pass...

https://www.thrillingliving.com/

The late Marlene Marder of Liliput/ Kleenex diary / book has been translated into English & had photos , fanzine interviews, and such added for a 2023 printing

― curmudgeon, Thursday, 30 March 2023 14:50 (two years ago)

Cool! Is this the only LiLiPUT thread?

― It’s Only Her Factory, Girl! (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 30 March 2023 15:21 (two years ago)

The other is Taking Sides: Liliput vs. Pere Ubu, plus at least a couple of Kleenex threads.

― Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 30 March 2023 16:11 (two years ago)

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