Biography
A playful post-punk percussion collective, Pulsallama originated as a performance art endeavor before evolving into an underground pop sensation boasting an international audience throughout its brief yet memorable run. Constructed solely from vocals and percussion instruments aside from bass guitar, the music generated layers of homemade polyrhythms that intertwined with the absurdist humor in the lyrics. Membership stayed exclusively female and fluctuated between seven and thirteen participants across the group’s history, and although their sole album stayed unreleased, the pair of singles issued during their existence along with an EP capturing a 1983 radio broadcast demonstrated music that remained vital, danceable, and consistently fun.
The ensemble came together in 1981 during a “Rites of Spring Bacchanal” event at Club 57, the nightclub and performance space located on New York’s Lower East Side. Regulars at the venue had conceived an all-female percussion orchestra rooted in the punk principle that formal musical training was unnecessary for creating music. Ann Magnuson, later known as a successful actress and Bongwater member, devised the name through free association between her “Pulse-Matic” blender brand and the word “Llama.” The original roster placed Lori Montana on bass, Jean Caffeine on trap drums and vocals, while Kim Davis, Stacey Elkin, Dany Johnson, Katy K, Diana Lillig, Ann Magnuson, April Palmieri, Charlotte Slivka, Min Thometz, Andé Whyland, and Wendy Wild handled vocals and an array of percussion ranging from Latin drums to empty beer bottles.
Participants had not envisioned Pulsallama as a continuing project, yet the warm response to their “Rites of Spring” appearance secured an invitation for a rock-club performance whose enthusiastic New York Rocker review created significant buzz. The band soon circulated through downtown venues, and when U.K. noise terrorists the Pop Group performed in New York, Jean Caffeine encountered the group’s manager Dick O’Dell, who also operated Y Records. The label released a 1982 12-inch single, “Ungawa, Pt. II (Way Out Guiana)” b/w “The Devil Lives in My Husband’s Body.” By then the lineup had begun contracting; Katy K, Diana Lillig, and Charlotte Slivka departed within months of the debut show, followed after the first single by Ann Magnuson, Dany Johnson, and Andé Whyland. Judy Streng replaced Lori Montana on bass to finalize the group’s ultimate configuration.
The debut single earned favorable notices and sufficient underground airplay to prompt a U.K. tour. While abroad the band recorded a Yuletide single alongside Pigbag, performed with Public Image Limited, and attracted the attention of the Clash’s Mick Jones, who secured support slots on several dates of the American leg of their Combat Rock tour. A second single, “Oui-Oui (A Canadian in Paris)” b/w “Pulsallama on the Rag,” appeared in 1983 as the group headlined clubs domestically and overseas. Although Pulsallama finished tracking a full-length album, Y Records encountered severe financial difficulties that prevented the band from covering the outstanding studio costs and retrieving the tapes. Growing disillusioned with management and booking agencies, what had begun as spontaneous enjoyment started feeling like obligation, prompting the decision to disband rather than persist; their farewell performance occurred in July 1983. The album has never seen release, yet Modern Harmonic issued the seven-song EP Pulsallama in 2020, drawn from the 1983 live-in-the-studio session recorded in New York for French radio broadcast.
The ensemble came together in 1981 during a “Rites of Spring Bacchanal” event at Club 57, the nightclub and performance space located on New York’s Lower East Side. Regulars at the venue had conceived an all-female percussion orchestra rooted in the punk principle that formal musical training was unnecessary for creating music. Ann Magnuson, later known as a successful actress and Bongwater member, devised the name through free association between her “Pulse-Matic” blender brand and the word “Llama.” The original roster placed Lori Montana on bass, Jean Caffeine on trap drums and vocals, while Kim Davis, Stacey Elkin, Dany Johnson, Katy K, Diana Lillig, Ann Magnuson, April Palmieri, Charlotte Slivka, Min Thometz, Andé Whyland, and Wendy Wild handled vocals and an array of percussion ranging from Latin drums to empty beer bottles.
Participants had not envisioned Pulsallama as a continuing project, yet the warm response to their “Rites of Spring” appearance secured an invitation for a rock-club performance whose enthusiastic New York Rocker review created significant buzz. The band soon circulated through downtown venues, and when U.K. noise terrorists the Pop Group performed in New York, Jean Caffeine encountered the group’s manager Dick O’Dell, who also operated Y Records. The label released a 1982 12-inch single, “Ungawa, Pt. II (Way Out Guiana)” b/w “The Devil Lives in My Husband’s Body.” By then the lineup had begun contracting; Katy K, Diana Lillig, and Charlotte Slivka departed within months of the debut show, followed after the first single by Ann Magnuson, Dany Johnson, and Andé Whyland. Judy Streng replaced Lori Montana on bass to finalize the group’s ultimate configuration.
The debut single earned favorable notices and sufficient underground airplay to prompt a U.K. tour. While abroad the band recorded a Yuletide single alongside Pigbag, performed with Public Image Limited, and attracted the attention of the Clash’s Mick Jones, who secured support slots on several dates of the American leg of their Combat Rock tour. A second single, “Oui-Oui (A Canadian in Paris)” b/w “Pulsallama on the Rag,” appeared in 1983 as the group headlined clubs domestically and overseas. Although Pulsallama finished tracking a full-length album, Y Records encountered severe financial difficulties that prevented the band from covering the outstanding studio costs and retrieving the tapes. Growing disillusioned with management and booking agencies, what had begun as spontaneous enjoyment started feeling like obligation, prompting the decision to disband rather than persist; their farewell performance occurred in July 1983. The album has never seen release, yet Modern Harmonic issued the seven-song EP Pulsallama in 2020, drawn from the 1983 live-in-the-studio session recorded in New York for French radio broadcast.
Albums
Singles
