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Baker's Dozen

I Don't Belong Here: Cathi Unsworth's Weirdo In 13 Albums
The Quietus , July 25th, 2012 07:17

Author and journalist Cathi Unsworth talks us through the albums that inspired her new novel Weirdo. This feature will bring dark joy to the hearts of those whose clothes are black, whose lips are purple and whose witches are red

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Joolz The Latest Craze

Joolz, along with Sioux and Lydia Lunch, represents my personal trinity of Godesses. When I first saw her, with her bright red hair and knotwork tattoos, I thought she looked like the reincarnation of Queen Bodecia – who as we all know, was the greatest ever Norfolk Broad. This three-track 12" EP, a collaboration with the wonderful Jah Wobble, came out in 1983 and was the first thing I ever bought of hers. I have used the title, along with that of her subsequent Hex LP, in Weirdo. If you have heard it before, you will know why – this is a wickedly funny depiction of a suburban ice queen, who drinks lager and black, smokes Black Sobranie cigarettes and goes into the graveyard at night where she: does it with her fella – on a tomb! Joolz is one of the most spellbinding performers you will ever see, her stories always poised between comedy and tragedy and her empathy for those dumped on the margins of life is profound. She is also a brilliant noir novelist, who constantly pushes the boundaries with her work, a very wise woman indeed.