Sometimes when a musician is included in a film soundtrack, the
confluence of scene and song becomes an indelible cultural reference
point—like that moment in Lost in Translation when Bill
Murray and Scar-Jo are in the Japanese strip club while Peaches’ “Fuck
the Pain Away” blares. It was a perfect context for Peaches—who
is all about confronting and subverting ideas about gender and
sexuality—particularly because it was tongue-in-cheek while also
being lurid and grotesque.
That kind of hard-core sexuality could easily become a gimmick, and
I’m happy to report that Peaches’ latest is evidence that she’s not one
to be outdone by her own shtick. I Feel Cream downgrades the
emphasis on genitalia found in the X-rated antics of her previous work
to a healthy NC-17. She’s still rapping about reach-arounds and
man-ginas on “Billionaire,” but the album is also peppered with
wonderful, hypnotic jams like “Lose You” and “Relax” that are pretty
damned sexy sans dirty talk.
Peaches is electronica’s Judith Butler, delving into our sexual
psyches to reveal gender as a social construct that’s performed rather
than innate. On “Mommy Complex,” she chants, “Hush now baby, don’t you
stress / I’m gonna fill your mommy complex,” while boasting, “No one’s
as old-school as me!” The track is a real club-thumper, and showcases
Peaches doing what she does best: making fun of all our darkest desires
while inviting us to shake our asses. Not a bad deal.
This article appears in May 14-20, 2009.