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Music

Politics of Pussy

BITCH and ANIMAL with Snoovy at Rancho Relaxo (300 College), Friday (July 26). $8. 416-920-0366.

Rating: NNNNN


A tune with the playa-posturing title Best Cock On The Block might seem like an unlikely place to find a savvy and scathing feminist critique of society.But when you realize that the bass-driven, bravado-dripping rant comes from the mouth of a mohawked tranny boy/girl wonder who’s rhyming about the silicone pseudo-penises s/he’s packing, the anti-patriarchal angle starts to make a lot more sense.

Such subversive political winks come naturally to Bitch and Animal, the gender-fucking, pussy-centric NYC performance art punk duo whose tagline urges listeners to “come smell the revolution” and whose shows deliver quirky pomo feminism with impressive chops.

“My life has been political since I was three years old and I couldn’t take my shirt off,” says Animal, the spiky-haired tranny half of the team. “It was confusing for me when I was a kid, and it became even more so when I hit puberty. I used to think being politically conscious was inherent for anyone queer or anyone belonging to a minority. I just write about my life, which I suppose is inherently politicized.”

Sure, but not every discriminated-against artist uses her or his work as a critical platform. Take Melissa Etheridge, the grande dame of dyke-centric rock. Her songs may be queer-based, but they’re still sappy and self-indulgent.

Bitch and Animal’s revolution smells so fresh because their lyrics offer intelligent deconstructions of what it’s like to not fit into established institutional structures — without being annoyingly preachy.

When Animal muses, “I think she liked me/ and I mighta had her/ but he’s got a real one/ and mine’s from the store,” you get a sad glimpse of what it’s like to be “in between boy and a girl.”

And lest you think all this socially conscious music sounds deathly dull, check out the pair’s mock Prayer To The Sparkly Queen Areola, a hilarious petition to a latter-day nipple saint: “May you suck on her to wisdom.”

But what, pray tell, is the Pussy Manifesto, the bible of the funk-punk-folksters’ self-defined revolution grrrl-style?

“Years ago, one of Bitch’s friends started using “Pussy’ as a compliment, instead of “cool.’ And since what we do onstage is taken directly from our lives, we incorporated it.

“In the summer of 1998, we were in Provincetown, and the idea of writing a full-fledged manifesto just hit me like Newton’s apple. We made up posters announcing the release of the manifesto and everything, but we still hadn’t finished it. We started writing it literally minutes before the show.”

That document (see the Bitch and Animal Web site — www.bitchandanimal.com) gets crowds roaring at every show.

If you think all this sounds reminiscent of another politically conscious Righteous Babe, namely Ani DiFranco, you’re right on the mark. After checking out their demo tape, the fiercely independent DiFranco asked Bitch and Animal to open some shows for her, then signed ’em up to her Righteous Babe label and helped produce their latest disc, Eternally Hard.

So are they just Ani: The Next Generation, carrying on the activist torch now that she’s moved into funkier Maceo Parker/Prince experimentation?

“Are we coming onto the scene where she left off?” Animal wonders aloud. “I never really thought about her that way. I don’t feel like she’s stopped doing anything. She’s still making great music.

“I’m more curious about what happens along the way in a musician’s evolution. She was the first person I really saw as a role model. That’s why we’re doing what we do.”

The duo are even more stoked to record their next effort in Hawaii with “adoptive lesbian mom” and legendary lady rocker June Millington, whom they met at an international women’s concert years ago.

Before then, however, they’re slated to perform at this year’s Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, which has recently been surrounded with controversy due to organizers’ insistence that non-biological transwomen are unwelcome on the grounds.

Animal says despite identifying as a transperson, s/he’s got no problem playing the fest.

“It’s not as clear-cut as one might think. You’re dealing with separatist politics, which have so many layers that most people don’t even realize. With all those protestors, I just want them to look at who’s playing there — it’s not anti-trans!

“Here’s the way I think of it: If the KKK, which we all agree is a horrible group, asked me to play their music festival, I’d play it in a second, just to have that opportunity to educate them. This is the same thing — I have a chance to inform people who need to be informed.”

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