Superqueens

Following Rullsenberg's feature on the new Superqueens album, The Royal Shit, I just had to join her in singing the praises of this mancunian project and its continued success. After catching their debut Cheap Shots via His Peelness, I had high hopes for the follow-up and even though snapshots such as The Ghost of Billy Whizz and the superb Rat Poison (featuring which pre-release almost got us into trouble with the band!) were excellent, it was still with some trepidation that I started to play The Royal Shit.

Thankfully, there was no need for the worry as the album is solid. Continuing their trademark bitter urban poetry over piercing beats and dark synths, Superqueens weave their way through eight entertaining dark tales, achieving an accuracy far beyond any of Frank Skinners coy-boy musings. Take Rat Poison's bleak observations of social decay and disregard by the powers that be, 'Maybe it was something that he ate, or sniffed or soaked up from TV, That made his eyes flash "It's late, It's feeding time", In the restaurant of the dead community' or Spinning Leaf, a rival for Rat Poison's crown and a reckoning of society's advancements, 'I've been thinking about the Egyptians and their slaves, How the Pharaoh's tomb meant their mass grave, And I've been thinking about England, and us'. Add to this titles such as Per Ardua Ad Strangeways, Mister You're A Lapdancer, Not For All The E's In England and The Ghost of Billy Whizz ('Billy Whizz is dead. Long live the new dealer, Go crown yourself in Nike and Fila, Good luck, make money, mac, marina, He got harpooned by a hypo in the sunny afternoon') and you can see the general direction of the Superqueens' duo's outlook. My only regret here is that the album version of Rat Poison buries the siren effect far down in the mix whereas the BBC session take had it as a prominent feature, but really that's just splitting hairs when the quality level is this high.

Like with Lisa, I can only wonder why you would pay attention to us, but I don't think you'd regret it if you did...