The most obvious point of comparison for
Whip Culture's
Pleasure Generation isn't just the forthrightly sexual electroclash of
Peaches or
Vav Jungle, but the album that now stands as the unknowing progenitor of this entire style,
Berlin's 1982 EP
Pleasure Victim. Between them, the two divas fronting producer/songwriter Morgen Bianco's synth-dance grooves have both of Terri Nunn's vocal styles covered, with the baby-doll squeak covered on the opening "I Wanna Break Out" and the kittenish growl shown to its best advantage on the whiz-bang "Cry Like a Baby." Bianco's tunes are equally beholden to
John Crawford's blend of sterility and sleaze, with pointedly salacious (often S/M-tinged) lyrics set to chilly electronic grooves. Although the album is therefore patently derivative, the songs are so giddily delighted with how transgressive they are that
Pleasure Generation has its own dopey charms. ~ Stewart Mason