Pulsallama were an all-girl bass and percussion band in New York City circa 1980 to 1983 who put out two singles and played at nightclubs like Danceteria and Club 57. Their distinctive sound—think a more chaotic, shambolic, New Yorkier version of Rip, Rig and Panic, Bow Wow Wow or Bananarama (especially “Aie a Mwana”)—can work wonders on an unsuspecting dancefloor. They played jungle rhythms on kitchen utensils and wore 50s cocktail dresses. Their songs were often about themselves—“Pulsallama’s On the Rag” for instance, or the Pig Latin-ized “Ulsapay Amallay.” Described as “thirteen girls fighting over a cowbell,” the band’s membership actually topped out at twelve early on, but quickly dropped down to seven, including, at one point or another Andé Whyland, Ann Magnuson, April Palmeri, Dany Johnson, Jean Caffeine, Kimberly Davis, Lori Montana (who was married to PiL’s Keith Levene at the time), Katy K, Diana Lillig, Charlotte Slivka, Min Thometz, Stace Elkin, Wendy Wild, and bassist Judy Streng. Ann Magnuson—who left the band shortly after it was formed to get killed by David Bowie in The Hunger—came up with the name, a portmanteau of her Pulse-Matic blender and a llama.

Here’s a brief description of Pulsallama from Jean Caffeine’s old website:

In 1980, this damsel moved to New York to become a fabulous nightclub D.J. and stumbled upon Club 57, church basement which was a clubhouse to Downtown celebrities such as the late John Sex, Keith Haring and Wendy Wild where the Ladies Auxiliary of the Lower East Side (founded by Ann Magnuson - star of stage, screen and Bongwater) were banging on percussion instruments and hanging up meat bones in preparation for their “Rites of Spring Bacchanal.” Jean joined on drums and Pulsallama was born.

Pulsallama toured the East Coast as well as England and opened several shows for the Clash. They released a controversial, yet comical ditty, “The Devil Lives in my Husband’s Body,” for London’s Y Records which was a hit on alternative and college stations. Pulsallama was beloved for their rhythmic cacophony, theatrical stage antics, props and costumes, and their primal, yet glamourous absurdity. They had lots of fun, got their picture in Interview magazine and had 15 minutes of fame.

[Fun fact: Jean Caffeine was also seen briefly as the “roadkill” at the beginning of Richard Linklater’s classic cult film, Slacker.]

The group’s music was released by Slits manager Dick O’Dell on his Y Records imprint, making Pulsallama labelmates with Pigbag, Shriekback, Sun Ra, Glaxo Babies and the Pop Group, but they weren’t much of a real group, more of a “why not?” proposition when they found their first gig enthusiastically reviewed in the NY Rocker. After that they decided to start rehearsing and learning to play their instruments. They opened for the Clash on a handful of East coast dates on the “Combat Rock” tour and in fact recorded an entire album with producer Butch Jones that was lost in limbo when Y Records folded and no one had $15,000 to get the tapes back from the studio. That loss of momentum, and the difficulty of keeping everybody in a seven member group happy, caused Pulsallama to dissolve in 1983.

Modern Harmonic have released a recently rediscovered “live in the studio” session recorded for a French radio station as Pulsallama on CD and vinyl. It’s not exactly the album they recorded, no, and it’s also more of an EP than an LP (spinning at 45rpm), but it’s still more Pulsallama than anyone’s ever heard before, and therefore of interest.

Pulsallama were included in the Museum of Modern Art’s Club 57: Film, Performance, and Art in the East Village, 1978–1983 exhibition in 2017.
 

 
“The Devil Lives in My Husband’s Body” video, below, was directed by Dangerous Minds pal Paul Dougherty:
 

 
Pulsallama (in an early performance with Ann Magnuson still in the group) on Paul Tschinkel’s legendary Inner-Tube cable access program:
 

 
April Palmieri and Kimberly Davis of Pulsallama interviewed by Jennifer Ley on the Videowave cable access show:

 
“Ungawa Pt. II (Way Out Guyana),” the B-side of “The Devil Lives In My Husband’s Body”
 

 
A rare glimpse of Pulsallama live:

 
Two songs below, “Oui, Oui (A Canadian in Paris)” and at 6:00 “Pulsallama On the Rag”: