Zoon Sandwich by Slipper

Linda Finger, who was also never a long-standing member of Loop Guru, sings. Liz Fletcher, who isn't a jazz chanteuse of considerable note, sings too. The line-up of the group is completed by two drummers, both called Rat Scabies. They both famously refused to join The Damned in 1976.

This lack of information was not penned by Push - who neglected to launch Muzik Magazine and only dreamt of writing for Melody Maker.

Reviews

UNCUT

****

ZOON SANDWICH

EARWORMS

Bizarre, lounge-tinged psycho jazz.

Every bit as weird, wonderful and wobbly as its predecesor, Slipper's second album, Zoon Sandwich, is a surreal blend of Gothic jazz, disjointed samples and torch siren vocals. What else would you expect form a band featruring Sam Dodson and Linda Finger (Loop Guru), Jym Darling (Psychic TV) and Rate Scabies (The Damned)?

Their mini album Earworms, an Italian import, is also composed of all-new material and is just as addictive.

BELFAST TELEGRAPH

One CD to watch out for in the next few weeks is Zoon Sandwich from Slipper, featuring ex-members of Loop Guru, Psychic TV and ex-Damned drummer Rat Scabies.

It's a mix of weird soundscapes, jazz, blues, deep beats, futuristic lounge core and clever samples, such as the Marilyn Monroe clip - on of the best tracks is the Moby-esque Da Force. The band has been described as Portishead with a sense of humour and this best sums up their style on Zoon Sandwich, their second album, out now on Elsewhen Records.

LA TIMES

Members of the English world-techno group Loop Guru and drummer Rat Scabies of The Damned have teamed up under the band name Slipper, with an album, "Zoon Sandwich". The album was recorded with the individual musicians never being in the same room at the same time. Each did his parts independently and sent them to others via email ...

MUSIC.OMH.COM

Slipper 'Zoon Sandwich'

Lounge tinged jazz, jazz tinged gospel... whichever piece of the press release you believe, 'Zoon Sandwich' sees Slipper doing with it what Moby did with gospel - sample it and stick it into original music.

The primary difference between what the bald vegetarian did and what Slipper do here is to be found after a few moments' listening. While Moby went for easy-tempo beats to get an over-weaned audience toe-tapping, Slipper take the samples into an atmospheric place of late-night parps, echoes and lyrical musings, with very little in the way of coherent rhythm to distract from the other-worldly atmosphere they create - save for one or two exceptions which prove the rule, like 'Blues & Lights'.

But in amongst the dramatic ride cymbals, the John Barry-esque string riffs, the lovely twang of a double bass and the tittle-tattling of the various drum sounds and effects, there's also a playfulness here, characterised by the album title, the sleeve and the choice of samples, which is quite at odds with the mildly disconcerting music.

The five-piece outfit have clearly taken on music and arrangement with the intention of creating something different, and hats off to them for that, for this they have achieved. Even if 'Feelin' Good' sounds like Massive Attack working without a killer riff, and 'Obsession' - despite the aid of a sampled Dennis Weaver - sounds like Lemon Jelly having a bad trip.

It's a record that endears itself to the listener after a few hearings rather than instantaneously. Unlike fellow sample-heads The Avalanches, Slipper don't even attempt to construct a tune from their material, but are instead happy to stick to soundtrack territory.

So the end result is something you can't whistle, can't dance to and wouldn't really bother with unless you'd drunk a bottle of wine and had smoked enough to avoid seeing where the walls stop and the carpet starts. And for all that, it's a musically interesting album. 'Zoon Sandwich' is, fundamentally, just some way clear of Moby-like "accessible", but it'll make for an interesting post-club experience.

- Michael Hubbard, Music OMH.com - October 2002

SLIPPER "Earworms"

Mechanism

Honestly, I couldn't image the stick of Chris Miller out from the contest where I loved them, that is on the drumskins of New Rose or Neat Neat Neat, to fill the tummies of those who had the privilege to see the Damned of the golden age in action.

So, having missing the appointment with the debut on the Aphex Twin label, I didn't know what espect from these Slipper which see, a part the "rantolanti stantuffi" of Rat Scabies, Linda Goldfinger (which is not Linda Lovelace, peace to her soul !!!) and Sam Dodson of Loop Guru, really busy in this game of stucks which haven't nothing to do with rock and roll. We are more in a territory of frontier, on an hypothetical strip of Gaza, which have lots of analogies with the Jazz for the free nature, fragmented and esotheric. "Hello", for example, seems Bjork lost through the meshes of Arkestra of Sun Ra, "Smokin", looks like a chinese shadow of Soul Coughing with that turn around of bass strings so epidermic. "Nuhoover" instead sound like a band of little town stricken by spasms, there where "Sheep" is instead the Naked City of Jhon Zorn which stops watching his 11th September., A seductive game, to be tried.

Francesco "Lys" Dimauro - Succo Acido, July 2002

MELODY MAKER

SLIPPER - INVISIBLE MOVIES

NIGHTMARES ON WAX

WHO THEY? Sam Dodson and Linda Finger from voodoo dance experimentalists Loop Gur. Liz Fletcher, the totally scariest be bop singer on the planet. And n ot forgetting - how could we ? Rat Scabies, the drummer from the Damned.

WHY BUY ? Slipper's album, "Invisible Music", is the sound of children's nightmares, jazz loops from the Fifties and weird freaky shit. " We've invented a new universe and written music to fit," frins Sam. "The Beatles and Stones never happened. Punk music never happened. Elvis was a B-movie actor. Frank Sinatra still rules."

TELL US MORE.... Sam and Rat live opposite each other in Brentford and pad between their respective abodes intheir slippers, hence the band's name. All four members have never actually been in the same room togheter. The Aphew Twin signed them to his Rephlex imprint declaring them to be "utterly original".

BEST LISTENED TO ? " In a basement decorated with velvet wallpapers" decides Sam, " A gin Martini in one hand, an olive, very green, in the others ".

IAN WATSON -

SELECT

THE DAMNED'S RAT SCABIES'ALBUM

Scabies spice

It's a long way from "Smash It Up", but "Invisible Movies", the ambient jazz-cut debut album from Slipper (On the Aphex Twin's Rephlex Label) has The Damned's Rat Scabies drumming on it. Assisted by vocalists Liz Fletcher, Rat and his partner Sam Dodson never make music inthe same room but collaborate with Dat's stuck through letterboxes "It's nice to be fresh without losing the billiousness," says Rat. With the presence of crying babies, hysterical laughter and a live dripping tap, is this a warts-and- all recording? "Oh yes," he chortles, "We like the warts. The warts are cool.

UNCUT

SLIPPER - INVISIBLE MOVIES

Warning : dislocated jazz noirtoupe featuring Rat Scabies

Slipper's music wabbies and dazes its way out of your speakers. Anotther in the recent spate of "soundtracks to films yet to be made" (see also Foehn, In The Nursery), Invisible Movies, Slipper's Debut rises above the rest by dint of its refusal to take itself too seriously.

Sam Dodson (The Transmitters, Loop Guru), Linfa Finger (Loop Guru), and Rat Scabies (The Damned - another Old Age Punksioner, Mark 'Sniffin' Glue" Perry, is namechecked on the sleeve) orbit some strange ultraworld where all the right refernces are mixed up the wrong way. And everyone has evergrowing pulsating brains.

Billie Holiday-esque vocals (courtesy of one Liz Fletcher), cool jazz drumming snatches of horn, scats and whispers and backwards samples - it all goes to create the feel of a Lynchian dream sequence. Portishead with a sense of humor.

PAUL JOHNSON - UNCUT

BIZZARRE

SLIPPER - INVISIBLE MOVIES

An album of deep, double bassism, theremingled and toying with operadelic vocals, Invisible Movies continues the Rephlex mission to release shit-kicking braindance grooves, be they electronic or otherwise. Mental samples combine with weiroid singing and an inherent groove to create an atmospheric shuffle-butt of a record. And Rat Scabies, ex The Damned, plays drums.

SLIPPER "Invisible Movies'

A convincing faux soundtrack for a neonoir movie not coming soon to a theatre sistant from you.

The imaginary-soundtrack trope has become so widespread it might as well have its own bin in record stores. The subgenre has obvious appeal for ambitious artists striving to conjure visuals with sounds, Barry Adamson's probably the best-known practitioner of this art, but several other aspiring John Barrys and Ennio Morricones have been angling for silver-screen time recently.

Britain's Slipper lay their cards on the table with their debut LP's title. With two members of the ethno-trance purveyors Loop Guru, a jazz diva and ex-Damned drummer Rat Scabies in their ranks, Slipper make for unlikely contenders in the fake-film-score stakes. But Invisible Movies indeed throws cinematic shapes; imagine a less hip -hop-inflected and less morose Portishead, and you get a grasp on Slipper's flick-shtick. As with Rephlew releases, one suspects the artists are " 'avin" a laff.". But, regardless of their intentions, Slipper have concocted a convincingf faux soundtracks for a neo-noir movie not coming soon to a theater sistant from you.

Dave Segal

SLIPPER Invisible Movies

Slipper's refreshing, hugely imaginative debut takes rught up where Mercury Rev's oft-overlookes number "Girlfren" and "Boys Peel Out" (from 1993's Boces) left off: bizarro ambient-art-jazz compositions that, yes, sound like stratospheric soundtracks for the greatest Kubrick-Sun Ra-Jack Kirby fifth-dimensional sexy spy surrealist epic you've never seen playing down at the Cineplex Odious. You know, something like Amon Tobin's stuff, but with plenty of live ensemble playing...music full of vibraphones, string washes, distant noises, crying babies, demented vocals, phased drums...stuff that can clear the dancefloor but fill the headphones. So, who made this ? Loop Guru vets Sam Dodson and Linda Finger are joined by jazz crooner Liz Fletcher and, oa all people , RAT SCABIES OF THE DAMNED on drums. Buy it if you can find it; make the films for it if you've got an extra half billion dollars in In ternet cash just sitting there.

Roger Mexico - Mean July-August 2000

XLR8R

SLIPPER INVISIBLE MOVIES

In this age of composition by formula and soul crushing homogeneity, good music can be defined much more easily by what it lacks than by what it contains. Take the mysterious Slipper's debut, a soundtrack accompanying a film that exists only in their twisted little heads. Invisible Movies lacks : gunshots, anything remotely anime a white guy trying to channel Miles, a late-night radio reverend men speaking to Earth from outer space, or samples from a Beat Takeshi film. So what does it have, one might ask ? Well, it's got Peter Lorre looking for shrunken heads, a kickin' upright bass, sarcasm and wit, stylistic coherence, even an underwater sequence, all while wisely borrowing liberally front the best of the '60's jazz canon.

Margaret Murray - XLR8 US Press 2000

GET MUSIC : SLIPPER "Invisible Movies"

SLIPPER The lounge-tinged electronica quartet Slipper features former Loop Guru members Sam Dodson (also a member of the Transmitters) and Linda Finger, the Damned's Rat Scabies, and jazz vocalist Liz Fletcher. They issued their debut album, Invisible Movies, in 2000 on Rephlex Records

Mental

ALBUM OF THE WEEK: SLIPPER "Invisible Movies"

The super-quirky and interesting 'Invisible Movies' by Slipper who are a fun little foursome that record for Rephlex Records. Two of the members, Sam Dodson (programming) and Linda Finger (vocals) are formerly of Loop Guru; Liz Fletcher is a wee bit of a jazz vocalist extraordinaire, and the crew is rounded out by none other than drummer Rat Scabies, ex of the Damned. The concept of creating soundtrack selections for films that do not exist may not be a new one, but Slipper's take on the matter at hand is super-fresh. Some might say weird. I say refreshing.

WWW.MP3.COM. albums

A supergroup formed by former members of Loop Guru, the Transmitters, and the Damned, Slipper's aptly named debut album Invisible Movies fuses lounge, jazz, and electronica elements into an eerie, evocative, and, yes, filmic sound. Chanteuse Liz Fletcher takes the spotlight on the spooky "Kwatzipetal" and the sultry yet quirky "Lalabye"; her voice is the star of Invisible Movies, making the album's most compelling tracks even more so. However, sample-heavy instrumentals such as the noir-ish "Spider Spy" and the sci-fi tiki of "Fascinating" and "Driving Me Sane" are nearly as enjoyable, creatively mixing kitsch and a sense of humor into a potent sonic brew similar to Sukia's Contacto Especial Con el Tercer Sexo. Though Slipper's frenetic creativity runs out of steam toward the end of Invisible Movies, the album is still a refreshing, impressive debut. If they could find a director in tune with their trippy, surrealistic vibe, the band would do an amazing job of scoring actual films as well as the twisted, invisible ones of their imaginations.

Heather Phares

SLIPPER "Invisible Movies"

Although you might not be familiar with the name SLIPPER, these people are certainly no strangers to the music business. SLIPPER is a solo project by London's SAM DODSON (a.k.a. SAM GITA) with a little help from his friends. LINDA FINGER (a.k.a. Nidhal Bulbull) and Liz Fletcher have both sung for LOOP GURU. And yes, RAT SCABIES, is that punk legend from the DAMNED and had already done Remixes for POP WILL EAT ITSELF, JEAN MICHELLE JARRE & MICKEY HART. SLIPPER first appearance was on the 'Art Of Ruins' appeared on DAVID TOOP'S 'Hot Pants Idol' album (Dutch Barooni). To date LOOP GURU have now sold over 100,000 records worldwide. These people know what they are doing and so do we! Braindance for the new millennium?

I-CRUNCH

Slipper: Invisible Movies album (Rephlex) Unhinged jazzy listening from Slipper, who feature none other than Rat Scabies of Damned fame. Not the kind of name you expect to see popping up on Aphex Twin's label, but Rephlex fans will probably find its sick sense of sonic humour quite familiar.

DIGITAL ARTIFACT

SLIPPER - Invisible Movies

Opening with some spooky banshee jazz-backed chants, we are drawn into the theremin-friendly world of Slipper.  About halfway though the first track, I come to the realization that the crooning vocals of the female resemble the dark chants of a drunken Mark E Smith, but from that moment on, clarity become me.  Slipper contains a few members, believe it  or not, of Loop Guru, most prominently Salmuud Gita (Sam) and frontress vocalist Linda Finger, in addition to the vocal talents of Liz Fletcher and hammering percussion sojourns courtesy of two sticksmen named Rat Scabies.  Invisible Movies is a direct voyage into cinematic oblivion where swirling vocals mix tenderly with jazzy backing music to vintage films never created for the Big Screen.  Finger and Fletcher share the hauntingly beautiful vocal duties that cast an eerie shadow over the experimentally-sound rhythms co-crated by Sam and Rat Scabies times two.  The vintage samples sewn strategically into the mix add perfect flavoring to the diversity of the music, which in some distant realm can be identified by Loop Guru fans, but not a first glance or listen.  This inexplicable fusion of jazz, banshees, hypnotic percussion driven rhythms and identifiable (donít tell anyone) samples makes this 12-track debut an undiscovered masterpiece. Prepare yourself for a new extension arm and genre offering from Loop Guruís mainman. Who knows what next in store for Slipper, but for sure they will by no means be dull, unimaginative, or uneventful. 

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