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The Secret Prostitutes, led by drummer Adit Samudra with Wolf on guitar and Ryan on bass, play something like the antithesis of the distended and psychologically complex music of the Energy. Aptly titled, Never Mind the K.B.D. consists of D.I.Y. punk in the style of the Killed By Death compilations, with simple, direct riffs arranged into fast, very short songs, 22 of which are dispatched in just over 25 minutes. A.D.D. indeed. Samudra has a knack for the punk technique of crafting catchy vocal lines without the use of melody, with songs like “Sabotase Barang Bukti” and “Hipnotis,” both of which feature Samudra’s sister on vocals, serving as prime examples.
However, as on the recent E.P. from Wolf’s solo project Bloody Hammer, the songs here are fairly schematic. The band sticks to a comfortable Wire-by-way-of-Minor-Threat feel throughout the record, with few songs offering anything really unique, well-put-together though they are. Confoundingly, one of the things that distinguishes the Secret Prostitutes, the fact that Samudra writes in Indonesian, limits the impact of the songs for an English-speaking audience. Not that Samudra doesn’t have every right and reason to write lyrics in whatever language he chooses, but this particular choice does limit the access of most American listeners to the content of the songs. Strangely, though, some lyrics seem to resemble English, such as the title of the hypnotic opening track, “Gadis Materialistik.” This phrase doesn’t translate into the English words that it resembles- in fact, the song’s title is something like “Material Girl-” and the very suggestion seems to push the song’s meaning even further away.
