Part rock band, part art ensemble,
Slug occupied a peculiar position in the noise rock milieu, especially given their residence in Los Angeles, CA, by no means the hot bed of noisy music like Chicago, Minneapolis, or New York. What also characterized
Slug as a music anomaly was their use of three bass guitars, sometimes to good effect, sometimes to the expense of a more defined sound.
Swingers, a collection of singles and EPs, was
Slug's first CD release. It's a dense listen, a bit amateurish, a bit unnecessarily arty -- much like a lot of the mid-'80s avant material released by SST Records, but
Swingers has its charm. However, it's a peculiar charm, and possibly one only fathomable by fans of the more inscrutable, edgy material issued by
Einsturzende Neubauten, the
Birthday Party, or other acts associated with the Berlin noise scene. Though
Slug often shared stages with bands like
Unsane, theirs was a more ensemble form of percussive noise rock: less aggressive and deliberately peculiar. The next two releases -- actual albums -- would prove more cohesive, even if no less experimental.