Red Knife

Soiled Soul and Rapture

Taking the shuttle bus from Shocking to Mundane | Uprising

Red Knife Lottery’s 2005 EP, So Much Drama, opens with psycho-chanteuse Ashley Chapman spinning a gleefully inappropriate tale of obsessive devotion to the Travel Channel’s Samantha Brown gone bad (“His knife to your throat so you will fall in love”), continues with the saga of married serial killers maintaining ardor by planting dismembered hookers in their garden together (“Fred’s in the cellar with a butcher’s knife / Hacking up the ladies with his beautiful wife”), and closes a song with a crooned line worthy of death metal gurgle: “While the boy found salvation in suicide, the girl found a savior more dignified.” Combined with the band’s punky, discordant, Blood-Brothers-with-a-sense-of-restraint sound, Red Knife Lottery proved capable of something few recent indie rock bands can muster: the element of surprise.

So, it is disappointing to see the Milwaukee band embrace Brooklyn-esque hipsterism on Soiled Soul and Rapture. Red Knife Lottery up the technicality—there’s enough jazzy synth organ to give Herbie Hancock pause—and expand their melodic palette, but simultaneously hew off a few too many endearing rough edges. Lyrically, Chapman veers into a milquetoast riot grrrl-lite, castigating male sex drive (“this skirt’s not an invitation, get a hold of your excitation”), while urging cross-gender solidarity (“Boys and girls unite, we can fight the good fight”) and issuing perhaps the most stirring endorsement of women’s liberation since Sporty Spice’s Girl Power manifesto. “Chin up pretty girl / You can be your own miracle pill”? Ugh! It’s like Alice Cooper being unmasked on the final night of the Welcome to My Nightmare tour as a David Cassidy practical joke and crooning “I Think I Love You” instead of “Cold Ethyl.” When you’re covering ground Christina Aguilera clear-cut with “Beautiful” back in ought-two, it might be time to revisit the elements that initially distinguished your band. Like, say, rape fantasies and prostitute dismemberment.

—Shawn Macomber

Username

Password

Forgot password

Register new account