Bam:
So all of a sudden my face is numb and I'm not sure if the cause is one (just one!) potent Puerto Allegre margarita or this tres fab Star Pimp disc. With its debut, San Francisco's Star Pimp explores a different kind of tension: Its rhythm section particularly bassist Tom Flynn, who owns the Boner label on which this LP appears-lays down the kind of heavy and sludgy groove that might anchor a Melvins recording, while guitarist Eric Grotke and vocalist Marcelle Poulos blurt out (respectively) spastic, skewed, bent riffs and warbling, sassy vocals that might recall Siouxsie Sioux, were they obsessively pretentious rather .. than by turns engaging, girlish, straight, nerdy, and disturbingly odd. And my, they're a bold crew; on Seraphim 2802, Star Pimp isn't shy about tackling regional material or being as culturally referential as Reality Bites. One song, "Yoko Phono," concerns that local conspiracy theorist who claims that Stephen King, not Mark David Chapman, shot John Lennon. Another, "Greatest Hits If," is a reworking of a Carpenters' song; and still another, "Palmolive," revolves around an old TV commercial and the phrase "You're soaking in it"
Bay Guardian:
ARE YOU listening, Sega? Here's the perfect incidental music for that urban acid-trip video game you've been pondering. The very song titles suggest scenarios: a "Size Zero", "Snowball" maneuvers through ponds of "Palmolive" (on the "Vegan Pussy" and "Yoko Phono" levels), only to come face-to-face with the "Human Dolphin" in a "Pee Test" showdown. Plus, Seraphim 280Z also promises an ample parental annoyance factor, with all the phosphate melodies in their over-stimulating songs. This CD reminds me of the first few times I heard Sonic Youth's Evol back in the mid-'80s. At first, I was put off because it sounded so cold and scary. Then I acclimated to the dissonance and realized it was supposed to be a beautifully fucked-up technological accident. For weeks I had to put it on every night before I went to sleep. Not that Star Pimp sounds anything like Sonic Youth. With Eric Grotke's guitar suggesting a diced postmortem Hendrix, and singer Marcelle's deft sliding between a daydreamy lilt and a goofy spaz, Star Pimp will appeal more to people who think Chrome and the Shaggs should have gotten married. The playing all the way around is loopy, even the tape loops, and ex-Fang guitarist Tom Flynn's bass and Jamie Spidle's pounding round this morass into delicious psycho candy-pop. Unless Sega takes my advice, Star Pimp is probably a little too bizarre to rocket to overnight stardom. Which is too bad, because they have a real coliseum sound. And they're still one of the best bands around, worth checking out even if only to get disgusted.
CMJ:
Star Pimp's dense, dynamic music doesn't go against the grain so much as it doesn't overlap with the output of any other bands we can think of. Vocalist Marcelle Poulos gives the group its distinctive thumbprint; her edgy, tension-filled vocal dips and turns maintain a thin outward serenity that never masks the raw nerve ends uncovered by her band's songs. The wiry black design is fleshed out by Tom Flynn's low slithery, almost Melvin's-like bass lines and Eric Grotke's atypical, scratchy, scrabbling guitar work, which together produce songs that make melodic sense despite their slippery handles. On 1993's Seraphim 280z, the group's full-length debut (released on Flynn's own Boner label), Star Pimp strung 13 such songs together with telling samples, forging an impressively well-rounded and individual sound. Almost three years later, the San Francisco quartet will reappear with its follow-up this spring, but this time Flynn's handing over record company duties to the folks at Kill Rock Stars. (LA)
Guilford College Daily
Seraphim 280Z from Star Pimp: Spongy scarlet baubles worn on the blazing ears of a fizzing space warrior. Guitar wrestles voice and they, pummeled by bass and drums, reconcile with devious agreement. The samplings say you have left the vicinity of your comfy touchable stereo. If you were the floor of a Merry-Go-Round with dirt smashed into part of your face by an unconscious crowd, at night you, as the floor, wrap yourself into a mechanical deity with breasts and role the rebellious carnival leftovers into a glistening, forked tongue-then you might empathize with the album. But even if you were not, you'd love this carefully saucy and precise-in-its-own way ensemble.
Nu City:
A little banishment music, Professor! "Size Zero" Remember in the Kiss movie Phantom of the Amusement Park when Gene Simmons pointed at-the heroine and called her Star Child? It appears that her progeny have started a band. They are Star Pimp, and their CD is called Seraphim 280Z Star Pimp's creation myth echoes their music. Picture this: The members of Star Pimp are at the State Fair riding on the Tilt 0' Whirl. They are spinning so hard that, with the help of centrifugal force, the Tilt O' cup goes flying off the map into outer space. Seraphim 2802 is the soundtrack to their voyage. First stop for the Star Pimps is a collision with some stranded cosmonauts. Alas, nyet vodka. The Pimps give them the bird and cruise deeper into space. Ah ha! The Enterprise! They peep into a window and espy Dr. Beverly Crusher taking a shower. As she lathers, she sings the Pimp's song "Little Tattoo," That is music to their ears. Like their own particular sound, Bev tempers her smarts with sex-appeal. They beam aboard and head for the lnterstellar Lounge. Guinan sets them up and starts a little bartalk. She discovers that the renegade fairgoers compose Space-Rock: high velocity melody slammed with discordant guitar noise that resembles the last cry of roadkill in the wake of a warp drive. She mentions that Ensign Wesley Crusher has been known to play a mean piccalo, but the Pimps decline any new members for their nonsensical circus. Seraphim 2802 will take you away on a celestial wave of coolness. (Boner Records)
Pandemonium
Thirteen songs of totally fucking weird noise. By far, one of the best CD's of 1994. You'll love this. First and foremost, Star Pimp claimed to have fucked people in the following list of bands: Meat Joy, Fang, Sinister Sisters of Satan, K-Tel Wet Dream, Nice Strong Arm, Jesus Lizard, Steel Pole Bathtub, Babes In Toyland, Butthole Surfurs,Yeastie Girls, Scratch Acid, Frightwig, Growing Up Skipper and last and most frightening, the Melvins. With a resume like that, where can you go wrong? If you don't check out the fuzzy, punk attitude, and distorted Star Pimp, you've gone wrong. This is the most twisted, bizarre CD to be heard by my ears in a long time. Try "Snowball" on for size, with its passionate vocals and lazy grooves. And if that still doesn't grab you, you'll fall in love with "Little Tattoo," a true indie-rock song with unpretentious and very cute and charmingly, adorable vocals. It's not hard to figure out that Star Pimp is a great band with great songs and an attitude for sex. With song titles like "Pee Test," "Vegan Pussy," and "Titty," how can you miss?
Paw Holes:
The Mothra twins started a band. They built a practice shed in the wheatfields, lived in a trailer out back, subsisting on nothing but Fruit Loops. Loose, high pitched guitar ties a noose around my neck, masked in a haze of samples, soldered by gooey bass sludge and minimal drumming. Sumptuous layer cake of noise, iced with a voice sweet enough to knock your breath out. More infectious than their Treasure Trail EP. Can I have another slice? -Karen
Scrape:
A skewed guitar-driven assault that brings to mind the music of the Asshole Surfers before they began offering complimentary blow jobs to Al Jourgensen. The girl singer croons sweetly over alternately screeching and roaring grooves-a contrast that would be pleasing to even the most discriminating indy rock consumer. -John
SF Weekly:
Star Pimp Seraphim 28oz (BONER)
WHENEVER I COME ACROSS A NEW CD I actually like, I often initially obsess on one or two tracks. In the case of local foursome Star Pimp's first full-length release, the object of my fixation was "Greatest Hits of Love." Lifting lyrical chunks verbatim from the Carpenters' "I Won't Last a Day Without You," the song is definitive psycho-pop. Loose, loopy and punchy, its simultaneously melodic and discordant buzz-guitar blats play perfect counterpoint to Elma Marcelle's warbling Karen Carpenter-meets-Belinda Carlisle vocals. A fun listen by any yardstick, it damn near solely validates this disc's existence. Not to insinuate that the remaining 12 tracks are duds. From "Slave Girl" onward, each tune on Seraphim is a solid spurt of pugnacity. Marcelle, whose chirpy singsong/nyah-nyah vocals often get lost in the sauce when the band plays live, does a fine job of elevating the group out of the indie-rock ghetto with her readings of smart, oft-amusing lyrics ranging topically from Palmolive ("You're soaking in it") to pee testing. Guitarist Eric Grotke's spot-on squalls of string-spazz, an imaginatively solid rhythm section and abundant oddball samples don't hurt, either.
SnipeHunt:
"Seraphim 280Z" is STAR PIMP's first full length lp out at long last on Boner Records. Every single boy here at Snipe Hunt World Headquarter has a crush on Miss Elma Marcelle. They get all dreamy as she trills and twists over Eric Grotke's shrieking guitar. And that guy, he can get the most fucked up sounds out of his instrument, he could probably take all of Superconductor on with one wammy bar tied behind his back. Like their first ep the disc is embellished with scraps of songs and dialogue that keep your ears squinting. The lyrics are splattered with insane pop culture references you can almost make sense of through the squalor. One of my faves is "Pee Test" which starts with a cascade of toilet flush samples before Marcelle cautions us with a few verses of "Whatever you'11 do it'11 come back to you..." A bad food service job nightmare. K-Tel commercials. Fourteen year old sluts. The Mark David Chapman Stephen King conspiracy. Little Feet and Terry Jacks bleed ,through quiet spots. You start to feel like you've been sitting in the four-by-four with the windows rolled up and the radio on super loud for a bit too long.
Spontaneous Combustion
STAR PIMP, Seraphim 2O8Z Weird, noisy rock with female vocals. Mixing the best of the Jesus Lizard, Butthole Surfers, AmRep noise bands, and stuff I haven't even dreamed up. Very interesting to say the least. A great soundtrack for eating paste and snorting pixie stix. (MY)
Teen Fag
STAR PIMP Serephim 2802 CD (Boner Records) The music on this CD is very hypnotic; pulsing back and forth in my consciousness even when I'm not listening to it. Not in an unpleasant way, but more like a gentle throbbing that coaxes me into playing the CD again and agaein. It's like tribal music with disjointed guitars, weaving up and down, back and forth, over a steady, pulsing drum beat. The vocalist meanwhl1e speaks, sings and howls, displaying her wide range of both pitch and style; as if the singer of the Suger Cubes had been merged with Yoko Ono. In fact there's a song on the CD called Yoko Phono that I thought was appropriately titled, because the vocelist seems somewhat familier with Yoko's recordings. Star Pimp do have melodic moments, although these are still of a chaotic nature and definitely not Top 40 materia1. I like this CD quite a bit and recommend it to those who like relaxing music, that's also challenging and a touch aggressive.
Your Flesh:
STARPIMP Seraphim 2802 CD An enjoyable trawl across the bottom of the lake, the aural muck generated by Star Pimp being big fun indeed. I'm especially fond of Mt Flynn's subsonic bass, it's pulse being more felt than heard and traveling through organic matter with ease. The cooing and/or screechy female vox are also a welcome relief from the usual male phlegm ball of most bands working this noise thing. There are also some nice snippets of strange sounds to thicken up the pudding. Nice. -Bruce Adams