Chandra- Transportation

[schwenko]

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from the Other Music mailing list:

"CHANDRA
Transportation
(Cantor)

Music made by kids tends to fall into two distinct categories -- the patently unlistenable and the unusually appealing. In their wisdom, the fantastic Numero label managed to drum up a compilation of some of the highlights of the latter category, but there's plenty more out there just waiting to be discovered. Chandra Oppenheim was only twelve years old when she made these tracks, with a hip artist dad the precocious pre-teen was exposed to some pretty strange music -- post-punk and disco being the styles which clearly stuck. Aided by underground post-punkers the Dance (a/k/a Model Citizens), Chandra proceeded to knock together some of the most singularly "outsider" pieces of disco music committed to tape. The Farfisa organ bleats distinctively in the background as Chandra asserts her uppity twelve-year-old presence with an affirmed confidence rarely heard in the disillusioned drawl of most punkers. The original EP, Transportation was released on the Dance's own label in 1980 and granted its child star an instant ticket to fame -- with club appearances coming thick and fast and international press beckoning.

Eventually the idea was chanced upon that Chandra could front a band made up of similarly aged musicians -- a genuine teen post-punk act. The Chandra Dimension were the six-piece to emerge and together this rag-tag band of kids recorded another EP entitled Dimension which is included on this release for the first time. At the time, Chandra Oppenheim decided probably wisely that the rock-star life was not for her, and Dimension was shelved to allow her to get on with her life. In the time since, her name has become somewhat legendary in the scene and it's a revelation to hear all the tracks here in one place, finally. There's something mischievous about the music, but it's not the sugared pop you might expect to come from a band of kids -- this is the precursor to Be Your Own Pet, all attitude and teenage smarts. Tracks like "Stranger" don't even sound dated -- I wouldn't be surprised if it dribbled into the Pitchfork-hyped spotlight on some Brookyln tape label or other, it's got that authenticity to it, that spunk. Either way, the music stands as a testament to Chandra and her producers' musical vision, and as a perfect time capsule of the early-'80s post-punk sound, albeit heard through younger, more innocent ears. A huge recommendation."