Between 1982 and 1994, poet Lydia Tomkiw and guitarist/keyboardist Don Hedeker performed and released several records as Algebra Suicide. Hedeker's minimalist drum machine patterns and inventive yet unobtrusive guitars and synths backed Tomkiw's wry observations about life, death, sex, loneliness, and other topics, all delivered in a distinctive deadpan Midwestern accent. Dark Entries' 2013 release Feminine Squared contains all of the songs from the band's first three EPs, as well as other material from the same era, much of it overlapping with the 1988 full-length The Secret Like Crazy. It's the ideal introduction to the brilliant duo, collecting the majority of their most memorable and affecting pieces in one place. Tomkiw was a truly fascinating lyricist, able to capture minute details and disaffected feelings in a uniquely matter-of-fact style, and the format of brief, abstract new wave songs was perfect for her words, allowing her to make her point and move on. The album contains the duo's most well-known song, the college radio favorite "Little Dead Bodies," an utterly life-affirming piece which deals with the subject of suicide in a frank, candid manner, with Tomkiw stating that she wasn't interested in killing herself because it would've been rude to force someone else to dispose of her corpse. On a similar note is "Please Respect Our Decadence," which bluntly states that "Everybody's dying, so we send them flowers/After their funerals, we go out to dinner, and then we try to forget about it." Not all of these songs are quite as grim, but they generally touch on the absurdity and arbitrariness of life in a thoughtful, creative way, and all of it is compelling and relatable. [The LP came packaged with a full-length DVD containing a 1984 performance recorded at the Noise Factory in Chicago.]