'real audio coming soon' (RA) discography When last we met, Free Kitten was an incredible duolithic experience, a combo that allowed Kim Gordon and Julie Cafritz to turn the goddamn tables on the crotch boys of undergroundism once and for all. Their first release, 1992’s Call Now / Straight Up! mini lp, was hailed by wonderjugs from here to Istanbul as an aesthetic bullet shot into the perfect centre of the beast. Writing in Journale Man Tit , Roland Barthes made a particuarly salient point, and one that avoided the cognitive nets of most journalists: “At first we imagine that this record is a jape, something designed to provide amusement and perhaps a sense of profound cultural discomfort amongst those groups at whom its wit is aimed. But one evening, while the record played at a dinner party I was hosting, one of the guests noted that the song “Dick” had a surface similarity to the song “Rodney” on the GTO’s classic “Permanent Damage” l.p. Musing upon this I realised that the essence of the surface documentation was indeed similar, but that the intent and delivery were profoundly differentl. The GTO’s were comprised of women whose self stated mission was passive: serving rock musicians as “groupies”. Thus their song, about the male groupie, Rodney Bingenheimer, was directed at a factual peer whose status was somewhat above theirs since he was a man in a male dominant society. Free Kitten’s members were “stars” inside their own milieu long before this recording. Consequently “Dick” is a humorous “put down” delivered to all potential male groupies from a platform of cultural superiority by two women who refuse to acknowledge the continuous existence of men as anything other than chattel.” After the steamroller success of their debut, Free Kitten embarked on a series of tours that took them to Japan, the Western United States (as part of the Lollopalooza package), and every decent bistro within easy strolling distance of their practice loft. For some of these events (and the recording sessions that inevitably ensued) Free Kitten’s ranks included Japan’s versatile renaissance woman Yoshimi on Drums, voices, and trumpets, and/or Mark Ibold on electric bass guitar. And though it is all but certain that Yoshimi would ditch the Boredoms and Mark would forget Pavement if Free Kitten purred, neither Kim nor Julie are willing to share the limelight with other full time members. “The help is, after all, the help,” Julie notes whilst checking the new paint job on the band’s Volvo. It takes a special type of mettle to make a Kitten like me. Us, I mean. Kim and I share a certain something that sets us apart, makes us better. It’s just how we are. I don’t know to describe it, but I know it’s rare. Otherwise it would be common. And we are certaimly not that. Perish the thought.” Indeed, as this compilation of Free Kitten’s first two years of recordings amply displays, they are anything but common. They are Kitten. And they are better than you. Susan Sontag & Joyce Carol Oates, co-presidents, Kitten fan club, NYC 1994 A Few Things You Should Know About: Free Kitten - Originally under the moniker of Kitten, the band now consists of Sonic Youth bassist/vocalist Kim Gordon and Julie Cafritz, who played in the first line up of Pussy Galore and in several other bands including STP, Action Swingers and even once with the infamous Velvet Monkeys. - Kim and Julie, who play guitars, are joined by bassist Mark Ibold from up and coming pop stars Pavement and drummer Yoshimi from influential Japenese noise band Boredoms. - Free Kitten were formed in early 1992 originally as a guitar/guitar duo for Julie and Kim. - Kim Gordon is one of the most influential women in alternative music. Her lyrics inscribe the issues of gender into short subversive songs. Her involvement with Sonic Youth as a vocalist and bass player is fundamental to the success of the band, and her iconic status in the indie rock scene is undeniable. - Kim is one of the women behind a razor-sharp line in female clothing, “X-Girl”. - “Like an alternative Madonna, she reinvents sexuality as a symbol of female empowerment” (The New York Times 2-6-92) - She is also the wife of Sonic Youth founder Thurston Moore, and they are the proud parents of daughter Coco. - “Free Kitter, over a dirty rumbling of guitars, sneer at the cliches of the music business, without failing to realise their own role as the Bianca and Tiffany of Noo Yawk noise” (Melody Maker Jan ‘95) - “What do you give a rock chick with everything? Her own indie supergroup... The first rule (with Free Kitten) is that there are no sacred cows, not even Free Kitten themselves. “ (NME Jan ‘95) - Julie Cafritz is renowned for her cutting lyrical stance. Her work with Jon Spencer in Pussy Galore helped set the agenda for confrontational verbal technique. Her production work with the band Guv’ner is also to be found on Wiiija’s Guv’ner releases and on Thurston Moore’s label Estatic Peace in the US. What’s more, Julie exclusively revealed on stage in Leeds that Jon Spencer wore tie dyed underpants at college!! - Shortly into their career the band were approached by a women who confronted them after a CBGB’s gig with the claim that she had been using the name Kitten as a disco performer. They subsequently had to change their name. - Review of “Unboxed” LP: “I’d recommend this to anyone interested in seeing a group that is busy redefining punk music for our modern times.” (Prototype, Jan 1996) - Review of “Nice Ass” EP: “Avant Garde guitar histrionics for the raw power generation.” (Feed The Enemy, Sept 1995) - Review of “Punks Suing Punks” EP: “These sounds show us the grime on the underside of all that we have; a grime that shows more than we’ve ever seen on the polished top side.” (Luv and Mutatin, April 1996) - “They make Pavement sound like Aerosmith swimming in a testosterone bubble bath” (Susan Sontag and Joyce Carol Oates co-presidents Kitten FC, NYC 1992)