BY LORRAINE ALI
FEB. 11, 1995
Mecca Minimal: Long before Lois or Bikini Kill, the Northwest band Mecca Normal was churning out shards of minimal noise (no bass or drums) with a confrontational edge, and would eventually end up influencing many of Olympia’s current female artists. Even though its seventh album, “Sitting on Snaps” (on Matador Records), finds the Vancouver, B.C., duo channeling its acidic and seething energy into actual melody, as opposed to its previous din of hair-raising feedback and guttural shrieks, its burning style still has little to do with the more palatable Olympia pop sound.
Jean Smith’s hissing, melodramatic vocals, somewhere between Grace Slick, Patti Smith and a dental drill, slither and flail next to eerie guitar work, while Smith’s abstract lyrics provoke strong and disquieting images. Once again, Mecca Normal proves itself an intriguing, consistently challenging force.
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Mecca Normal 