ANNIE ANIXETY

In amongst releasing obstreperous singles by the likes of Dirt, Crass Records also found the time for teenager Annie Anxiety, a New York-born Renaissance Woman who ignored the easy route and opted for intricate, arty cut-up stop-start no-discernible-instruments weirdness on Barbed Wire Halo (1981), a two-part piece with multi-lingual vocals and somewhat obtuse sentiments:

"Horror is the denominator, but life is the question" it says on the sleeve.

"Horror is a figment of our reality" it says on the run-off groove on side #1

"Reality is a figment of our Horror" is side #2's run-off statement

All very profound, no doubt, but a pretty good indicator of how pretentious the disc is. Nonetheless, the Crass association secured it a #10 spot in the Indies.

Support slots to Crass etc followed. Here's a review from Sounds, February 1982:

Annie Anxiety is the unbilled opener. Her fierce, brain-hammering pre-recorded backing strikes a vivid contrast with the reggae tapes played earlier. Starting with an inhibition-shedding assortment of severe shrieks and screams, she appears to become totally immersed in her performance. She strides around, continually on tip toes and wailing in fearsome, demonic tongues like a being possessed. Annie's set is a brief fifteen minutes or so, but a short, sharp impact is made.

Her debut LP, 1984's Soul Possession (another Indie hit, reaching #7), was a morass of drum machines, noise, and dubs, recorded with assistance from Adrian Sherwood, Penny Rimbaud, Eve Libertine and Flux's Derek Birkett. It was just the first of many albums, both solo and collaborative (including efforts with industrial types Coil and Nurse With Wound), none of which I shall bother listing. She also recorded as Little Annie.

DISCOGRAPHY 1981-1984

Singles / Albums

(She has made more records, but these are the only two I'm listing right now until someone emails me demanding their insertion)

Barbed Wire Halo (7", 1981)	Soul Possession (LP, 1984)

Various Artists

Devastate To Liberate UK LP 1985 (Yangki): Soweto Suntan

A-Sides (Part One. 1979/1982) UK CD 1992 (Crass): Hello Horror

Links

Little Annie Anxiety Bandez website - her official homepage, with artwork (very good, too), music samples, biography, etc