ONE LITTLE INDEPENDENT release the next two singles in the Crass Records’ reissue next month, with twelve-inch vinyl editions of Annie Anxiety’s Barbed Wire Halo and Flux of Pink Indians’ Neu Smell, both originally released in 1981.
Both records will be issued on black vinyl by OLI, and in digital format through a variety of different online partner platforms, with a 15 March 2024 release date.
Annie Anxiety – Barbed Wire Halo
New York City musical maverick and performance artist Annie Anxiety, aka Little Annie aka Annie Bandez, began her illustrious career (including work with Adrian Sherwood, Coil, Current 93, and Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry) with Crass. They released her first solo single, 1981’s ‘Barbed Wire Halo’ alongside ‘Cyanide Tears’, an extraordinarily prescient piece of jagged electronics, samples, and skeletal rhythms, led by Annie’s nightmarish vocals.
She tells us; “When creating this single with Penny I hadn’t heard the word ‘avant-guard’ nor could I spell it – I only got explained ‘concretism’ via an interview I did in Berlin regarding some of my work three years ago – My father was a printer so I grew up with sound of printing press and subway train beats and always heard melodies and cross rhythms within those beats – I was just making dance music / disco tunes to my mind and Pen heard those same tunes I was hearing – my first recording, in retrospect I guess, was pretty ‘out there’ at its release, but to us it was dance floor for a club yet to be invented- one day”.
Penny Rimbaud expands; “Annie Anxiety is a total enigma, a passionate voice in the wilderness of consensual reason. Dada in instinct, Monroe in affection, Rambo in inflection, Annie rams it home with divine thunder. An instigator and innovator, she’s the bonkers angel of Yonkers, NYC. With no time to spare, Annie takes to the road with complete conviction, overtaking Kerouac halfway down 5th Avenue. Catch her if you can”.
One Little Independent
Annie Anxiety. 2024. Barbed Wire Halo. One Little Independent. Available from One Little Independent from 15 March 2024.
Flux of Pink Indians were an iconic anarcho-punk band active from 1980-1986. In 1981 the band signed to Crass Records, releasing their debut EP ‘Neu Smell’ the same year, featuring indie hit ‘Tube Disaster’. Pulsating bass and grinding, distorted guitar chaos underpins a vicious takedown of media sensationalism and the reporting of everyday tragedies.
Flux assaulted the airwaves with an intelligent form of humor which, grim as it might have been, would always put a smile on your face. ‘Neu Smell’ must rate as one of the true gems of the time. Flux were undoubtedly the Joker in the pack. Join the shuffle.
One Little Independent
Flux of Pink Indians. 2024. Neu Smell. One Little Independent. Available from One Little Independent from 15 March 2024.
The Hippies Now Wear Black 