French label Le Son Du Maquis is reissuing Lydia Lunch’s 13.13

Recorded in 1981 and originally released in ’82, it’s arguably the New York artist’s most satisfying full-length statement, and certainly one of her most influential. Her second solo album under the name Lydia Lunch, sonically it comes over like a more droning, dissolute Stateside cousin of Siouxsie & The Banshees’ Juju, with Dix Denney on guitar, Greg Williams on bass and Cliff Martinez on drums.

Conceived when Lunch relocated from New York to California, it’s a concept album of sorts, as she explains in her liner notes:

“13.13 exists as document to the pandemonium of spectres and potential serial killers who twisted the California Dream into a waking nightmare as they snaked through the boulevards, back yards and basements of a sun stroked paradise turning into a blood soaked inferno of fear, paranoia, panic and lust killings.”

Right you are, Lydia. Despite it’s grisly subject matter, 13.13 is a remarkably accessible and – dare we say it – fun record. Lunch is clearly as titillated as she is disgusted by the “bad beat poets, dopesick singers, cracked actors and petty criminals” she sings about, melody wins out over dissonance, and Denney’s crunchy guitar work is good enough to eat. 13.13 is a masterpiece.

The 2011 edition of 13.13 will be released on CD and vinyl on February 7.

Tracklist:
1. Stares To Nowhere
2. 3×3
3. This Side Of Nowhere
4. Snakepit Breakdown
5. Dance Of The Dead Children
6. Suicide Ocean
7. Lock Your Door
8. Afraid Of Your Company