Flak Magazine: Elastica's Elastica EP, 00.00.00

Elastica, one of the better releases of (gasp!) 1995, ran into a stumbling block when two seminal '70s punk bands — Wire and the Stranglers — sued the band for "creatively appropriating" their songs without permission. The band settled out of court in both cases.

In the case of Wire, especially, the suits were justified. Elastica's biggest hit, "Connection," which was featured, of all places, in a Budweiser commercial, is a virtual carbon copy of Wire's "Three Girl Rhumba." The chords, riffs, drums, everything save the lyrics are the same.

While the group could have claimed that rather than covertly stealing someone else's muse, it was merely setting up an elaborate joke — a U.K. punk rock band getting money for a variation of its songs being used in an ad for a U.S. beer distributor — it was faced with a quandry: how to write a Top Ten hit without ripping off or offending anyone else.

Well, it took almost four-and-a-half years (Elastica's last non-Trainspotting soundtrack release was in March of 1995), and the solution the band arrived at was to enlist Mark E. Smith, a British indie legend best known for his work with the Fall and his troubles with the U.S. legal system. Smith sings on two tracks, "How He Wrote Elastica Man" and "KB."

So what does the new single sound like? Well, it sounds like the Fall — crazy/angry-man shouts coupled with aggressive, snarling guitar work. It's great. And what's more, they don't have to worry about giving away any money this time out.

Both songs featuring Smith are solid, if derivitive (of the Fall, natch). The long lay-off and personnel changes haven't done the group too much harm — there's as much intensity here as there ever was.

That said, the EP is very much a mixed bag, though in terms of style rather than quality. We have three Fall-ish numbers, a noodling, Kraftwerk meets New Order in a smoky Camden pub-sounding instrumental, an old-Elastica-sounding live track and a minimalist, heart-wrenching demo.

The latter two stand above the rest of the EP, and that doesn't bode well for the group, as both songs prominently feature now-departed member Donna Matthews. "Nothing Stays the Same" was written and recorded at home by Matthews and is much dreamier and intimate than anything the band proper has recorded.

Meanwhile, "Operate," a live recording, was co-written by Matthews and the band. What all this means, of course, is that the band has a tough time ahead of it as it strives to step out of Matthews songwriting shadow, which might be tough, as she wrote the band's most original sounding stuff,and re-form its identity. And this is going to be a long process. According to a press release at Elastica's label's website, the new album will contain several "Donna songs." Eventually, though, Elastica will have to make a choice:

"With whom do we collaborate next?"

— Eric Wittmershaus (ericw at flakmag dot com)