S.M. Nurse are a band defined by their marginality. Crafting tunes that are simultaneously dense and dancey, these Dutch composites combine the hilarity of sampling professionals Negativland with the sound of a typical European minimal wave banger. It’s their marginality though- not belonging to any one genre, inhabiting the fringes and testing the limits of many different DIY and punky sounds which merits their listenability. By 1983 when the content of this cassette was performed, one might have thought that the functionality and allure of synth pop/minimal wave had fully run its course. Namely, that the highest highs had been reached, often in the form of singles by Euro weirdos who put out one mercurial release only to disband. But one only need to listen to lead singer Annekke Stempher’s repetitive, cocky, and digital (evoking Laurie Anderson’s definition- on again, off again) vocals, Jos Jak’s grainy, strung out, and paranoidally funky guitar tone, and Menko Konigs’ interlocked electronics to feel the bliss of their sound. The sampling is impeccable, not just telling sonic narratives, but providing lyrical narratives as well, done no better on the song “That’s The Body”, where a voice asks over and over “Did anyone touch you here, or here? Or here? Or here? Or here?” while Stempher and Jok lay down a dissonant funk.
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