Pop’s current focus on feminism and gender fluidity won’t be news to Peaches, who has been championing such causes since her punky debut album landed 15 years ago. Now the mainstream has caught up, and while it might be overstating things to say that this is entirely down to an avant-electro artist singing “rub it against my thigh” in her pants, there’s no denying that Peaches is a pioneer. In 2015, her role as provocateur is harder to define, although Rub, her first album in six years, does its best to stay outside comfort zones: “Whistleblow my clit,” she sings on the title track, a lyric you suspect might still be off-limits for any forthcoming Miley Cyrus lyric sheets. Elsewhere, Kim Gordon is enlisted to sing “Get on your knees / Roll on over” on Close Up, while the most accessible tune here is a motorik synth-pop number called Dumb Fuck. Peaches’ artistic vision remains as focused – and funny – as ever, and she’s made a video to accompany each of the album’s tracks. These feature treats such as performers shooting lasers out of buttplugs and – in her words – “girls squirting off rocks”. Enjoyable as this album is, that might be the better medium through which to experience it.
