THE SOUNDS OF LUSTFUL FURNITURE, MAN-EATERS, AND SUCH

Odalisque by Henri Matisse (1923).

From time to time, in search of a relatively obscure psychedelic relic, I visit the superb blog site, Dr. Schluss’ Garage Of Psychedelic Obscurities. Other than having excellent taste in curating this site, the man behind the blog also creates his own music under various monikers. Over the years I have grown to be quite a fan of the electronica-tinged instrumentals and restrained psychedelia he creates under the sobriquet of Damaged Tape.

One such work that I love is the soundtracks he created for the pair of delirious Andrew Shearer films, The Erotic Couch, and Cannibal Sisters; Shearer being a writer, director, producer, and member of the Athens, GA based, DIY microcinema collective Gonzoriffic.

Working independently from the traditional movie industry, Gonzoriffic’s films tend to lean towards the “B” side of things (albeit delightfully on purpose), and seem to celebrate the same ethos and aesthetics that are examined in Elijah Drenner’s entertaining and insightful documentary, American Grindhouse; films, which at their best are just as much about empowerment as they are “exploitation.”

Packaged as a double-album, I tend to prefer the A-sides’ The Erotic Couch soundtrack, with its slinky, tweaked Latin and dub rhythms and lithe guitar work uncoiling through a constant digital crackly that approximates the lush sounds of vinyl. There are elements of this album that strongly remind me of the incredibly intuitive and fluid music the surviving members of The Doors created for 1978’s An American Prayer, backing tracks of poetry and spoken word that Jim Morrison had recorded in 1969 and 1970.

To my mind, this soundtrack could have just as easily served to add ambiance to artist, collector, and “rephotographer” Richard Prince’s 2011 exhibit at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, which was likewise titled, “American Prayer.”

by Richard Prince.

One of my favorites off the “Erotic Couch” side is the sinuous “The Sexy Sofa,” which you can check out below:

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And check out a trailer for the film itself:

Although I may favor the A-side of things, Damaged Tape’s work for Cannibal Sisters features some adventurous use of tribal-like drum programming bumping and grinding up against caustic electronics and simmering digital blips, all put over with captivating, bent guitar strings that seem to be searching for a circuitous route into your head—take the whacked-out funk of “Cannibal Festival” for example:

CANNIBAL SISTERS. Starring Monica Puller, Melisa Cardona, Mitsu Bitchi, Natalie Cardona (and victim).

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And here’s the trailer:

Reminiscent of the fascinating sounds composed by prog-rock band Goblin for Dario Argento’s mid-seventies Italian horror films, as well as John Carpenter’s stunning work created to score his own films, such as 1976’s startling (and must-see) Assault on Precinct 13, but with a much more prominent sense of lust emerging from the nervous synths; you can pick up these soundtracks and so much more of Dr. Schluss’ stuff for free over here at his site.

So go on and check it out!

————–Bobby Calero——————————–

Ref:

Drenner, E. (2010) (Creator). Diabolik6 (2010, Apr 1). American Grindhouse Theatrical Trailer [Video] retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AndtsMdk2fc

Gonzoriffic. (2009) (Creator). Gonzoriffic (2009, Feb 21) (Poster). Go Gonzoriffic [Video] retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBMVAxsyaoE

Schluss, Dr. (2009). The Sexy Sofa [recorded by Damaged Tape] On The Erotic Couch Soundtrack. [CD].

Schluss, Dr. (2006). Cannibal Festival [recorded by Damaged Tape] On Cannibal Sisters Soundtrack. [CD].

Shearer, A. (2006) (Creator). Gonzoriffic (2006, Jul 25) (Poster). Cannibal Sisters Trailer [Video] retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPIX2GxYbpA

Shearer, A. (2009) (Creator). Gonzoriffic (Jul 18, 2009) (Poster). Erotic Couch Trailer [Video] retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uo5oA9NnWsI

SUMMER SONGS OF INNOCENCE & EXPERIENCE

by William Blake (1794)

With the sun rolling towards its apogee in the Northern Hemisphere, the Summer Solstice is fast approaching and with it the first official day of summer! (although the temperature itself had as of late seemed to be insisting upon this season’s arrival for some time now).

In the 2010 documentary Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child by Tamra Davis, the artist and filmmaker, Julian Schnabel says something regarding how summer in New York City is an incredibly lonely season, something about them being “a motherfucker.” Although the film itself is great and certainly recommended-viewing, I couldn’t disagree with Mr. Schnabel’s statement more.

BIG SUN by Jean-Michel Basquiat (1984).

Summer always seems to me to be received as the highlight of the year, when most appear to be attempting to cram in as many experiences as they can (even when these experiences sometimes entail lying prostrate in the heat, or strolling without purpose); all before we return to hunched shoulders, clenched fists in coat pockets, marching through the frost to arrive at Point B directly from Point A. Additionally, I’ve always found that the dichotomy created by both the overwhelming desire for one to take it easy and enjoy themselves, coupled by the urge to get-it-while-you-can, serves to heighten our sense of appreciation and elevate our summer days and nights into the territory of “fun times.”

Therefore, in celebratory anticipation, I present two tracks today that serve as small samples from either end of summer’s broad spectrum:

INNOCENCE

Prominent in my mind during this season is the easy joy to be found in all the summertime cookouts and backyard BBQs. Friends gathered—laughing and enjoying each other’s company—all awaiting for a bite of the undisputed main attraction on the grill at these events: The Hamburger.

…Yes they are, and so, from 1966, here’s Bobby Moore & The Rhythm Aces with “The Hamburger Song.”

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like it? Buy it.

Bobby Moore & The Rhythm Aces

This amusing little song (which appropriates the rhymes of children’s hand-clap games, another feature of the summer as you often see little girls in pairs pass the time running through the complicated sequence of gestures that accompany each line) appeared on Bobby Moore & The Rhythm Aces sole album, Searching For My Love. It was released on the Chess label’s imprint, Checker. New Orleans native Bobby Moore (tenor saxophone) had joined the US Army in his teens and formed the initial line-up of the Rhythm Aces with members of the Fort Benning marching band. However, moving to Montgomery, Alabama in the early ’60s he put together a new group under the same name, featuring his brother, Larry Moore (alto saxophone), Chico Jenkins (vocals, guitar), Marion Sledge (guitar), Joe Frank (bass), Clifford Laws (keyboards), and John Baldwin, Jr. (drums). In 1965, recording what would become the title track of their debut at the renowned Florence Alabama Music Enterprises (FAME) Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama—on the strength of that song alone the group was picked up by Leonard and Marshall Chess. The group would continue to release various singles for the label throughout the decade, and although there are some fine slices of southern soul and R&B, none of them have quite the same sense of delight as “The Hamburger Song.”

EXPERIENCE

On the other side of the gold coin of summer there’s the heat; the sultry nights of grooving, sweating, and exposed skin: in the words of Sandy D. and Danny Zuko, “Summer lovin’ had me a blast.” In the spirit of being a gentleman (and perhaps a bit of the attitude of “if you have to ask, you’ll never know”), I’ll jump straight into our second song: “Touch Me Again” by Bernard “Pretty” Purdie.

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like it? Buy it.

Considered one of the finest drummers of all time, Bernard Purdie made his career as a go-to session drummer, hired to add some physical presence and precision timing to tracks by such artists as James Brown, Dizzy Gillespie, Steely Dan, Isaac Hayes, and Hall & Oates (and rumored overdubs for early albums by The Beatles). In addition, Purdie served as musical director for Aretha Franklin throughout the early-to-mid seventies, particularly during her Young, Gifted and Black era.

However, “Touch Me Again” comes not from any of his numerous (300+) session works, but from an album that he wrote, produced, and performed himself—the soundtrack to the first major black porn movie (often described as the “black Deep Throat”): Lialeh.

Released in 1973 (while the soundtrack itself would be released the following year), Purdie agreed to score this skin-flick, as it would be the first time he’d be credited as a “writer/composer.” And what an amazing soundtrack did he put together; assembling some top-notch session players such as wind instrumentalists Seldon Powell, Garnett Brown, Arthur Clarke, and Jimmy Owens, bassist Wilbur Bascomb, Ernest Hayes on organ, Horace Ott on Fender Rhodes as well as overseeing the arrangements, and Sandi Hewitt handling the sassy vocals for the lyrics provided by director, Baron Bercovichy.

“Pretty” Purdie today [photo by Fabrice Bourgelle Pyres]

Track for track this soundtrack lays down a complex but sensuous groove, whether it be on the funky floor burner “Hap’nin’,” or the bawdy ’60s swing of “All Pink On The Inside.” In 2003 the phenomenal reissue label Light In The Attic Records re-released this soundtrack and I highly recommend you pick up a copy. Oh, and “Pretty” Purdie and crew make a cameo as the film opens with them jamming the title-track at a music-club/sex-show. Highly skilled funk and topless gyrations, what more does a music video need?

Well, here’s to a marvelously full summer! Hope it feels good.

————Bobby Calero———————————-

Ref:

Bercovichy, B., & Purdie, B. (1973) (Creator) baaadmutha75 (Poster) (2011, Apr 25) Bernard Purdie – Opening scene from Lialeh (1973) [Video] retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdc0L8B0bC0

Purdie, B. (1973) Touch Me Again [recorded by Bernard Purdie] On Lialeh [Vinyl] Bryan Records (1974). [CD]             Light In The Attic (2003)

Moore, B. (1966) The Hamburger Song [recorded by Bobby Moore & The Rhythm Aces] On Searching For My Love [Vinyl] Checker (1966)

Sharonmnich (2009) (Creator). sharonmnich (Poster) (2009, Oct. 2) Eenie Meanie Sassaleeny Clapping Songs [Video] retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBVksBh0cLg&feature=player_embedded

IF YOU WANNA KNOW WHY I CAN SMILE

Just a quick one today to round out the posts for my forthcoming mix: Longevity Has Its Place.

In 1972 Motown moved its headquarters to Los Angeles. Among their large and talented stable of artists, the Four Tops—perhaps most famously associated with their 1965 number-one hit “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)” and their 1966 number-one hit “Reach Out I’ll Be There”—opted to part ways with the company and remain in their hometown of Detroit, Michigan. Signing with the ABC-Dunhill label, the Four Tops were teamed up with producers/songwriters Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter.

The Four Tops would return to Motown in a decade, but in the interim they would make some great and interesting music. Their first album for ABC-Dunhill— 1972’s Keeper of the Castle—featured the hit “Ain’t No Woman (Like The One I’ve Got)”, which was later interpolated in 1996 by Jay-Z and Foxy Brown for the second single off of Jay-Z’s debut album Reasonable Doubt: “Ain’t No Nigga.” In 1973 the Four Tops would have another hit with the theme song to the film Shaft in Africa: “Are You Man Enough.”

However, today I’d like to feature another song off of Keeper of the Castle, the fantastically funked-up and feel-good “Turn On the Light of Your Love.”

Like it? Buy it.

It should be noted that unlike most R&B groups, the Four Tops (being Levi Stubbs, Abdul “Duke” Fakir, Renaldo “Obie” Benson, and Lawrence Payton) remained together for over four decades, having gone from 1953 until 1997 without a single change in personnel. A change of line-up was finally forced upon the group when Lawrence Payton died on June 20, 1997.

For a certain generation (mine), lead singer Levi Stubbs might be more familiar as the voice of Mother Brain on the Nintendo-based NBC Saturday morning cartoon Captain N: The Game Master, which ran from 1989 to 1991.

Even more memorable to my generation’s mind, Mr. Stubbs was the man who performed the incredible vocals for the carnivorous, yet completely charismatic plant Audrey II in the astounding, Frank Oz directed, 1986 musical film Little Shop of Horrors. Really, I couldn’t go on enough about this film, so if you have not seen it (or haven’t seen it since you were a kid) you certainly should make it priority viewing. Not only is the soundtrack amazing, but also this hysterical movie contains Steve Martin’s finest screen performance—as Orin Scrivello, the sadistic, nitrous oxide huffing dentist.

————————-BOBBY CALERO

Ref:

The Geffen Company, Warner Bros. (1986) (Creators). Robonhigh (Poster)  (2008, Aug 20). FEED ME SEYMORE – LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS [Video] Retrieved March 10, 2012 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7SkrYF8lCU

The Geffen Company, Warner Bros. (1986) (Creators). TheDoomWizzard  (Poster)  (2011, May 15).  [HD] Dentist! – Little Shop of Horrors [Video] Retrieved March 10, 2012 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_VU1q7czkE

Perry, L., Stubbs Jr., L., Benson, R., Fakir, A. (1972). Turn On the Light of Your Love [recorded by Four Tops] On Keeper of the Castle [CD] ABC-Dunhill. (1972). Motown (1992)