Wednesday 27 October 2010

ZOMBIE ZOMBIE


Words were spoken at the setting of time. Words which put together told a terrifying tale, a prophecy of doom. Man had crossed into the black land and returned diseased. Evil had found a door into another Kingdom. Somehow it had to be kept shut. Prehistoric man kept vigil until it was forgotten why. Of course they thought you were crazy, but you insisted on returning to that ancient place, just to make sure. You had a feeling about these relics, a feeling of death. Unwittingly you had sprung an invisible lock of an invisible door. A prophecy is about to be fulfilled. The Dead will rise again to eat the flesh of the living.

Zombie Zombie - "Parisian undead analogue disco that goes bleep in the night"

Tuesday 26 October 2010

ZOMBIE!


Everything is rotting and disintegrating, darkness is closing in and Vauxhall's teaming with shambling maggot riddled zombies. It's altogether safer not to leave the house. I've been holed up in my bedroom with some Lucio Fulci films.



The spooky electro prog soundtracks for Fulci's horror films were made by Fabio Frizzi. If you must go outside for some reason I suggest you pop this in your walkman, it also works wonderfully as a soundtrack for a stroll to the shops, or the job centre. Enjoy!

Fabio Frizzi - Zombie

Thursday 21 October 2010

Monday 18 October 2010

Monday 11 October 2010

My heart went BANG BANG


On Saturday I saw Pete Burns perform LIVE at Carpet Burns 2nd birthday party. I don't know how to put my excitement into words. He made my tummy rumble, my sphincter tighten and my heart go BANG BANG



Since seeing him in the flesh I've become an avid fan. I spent most of Sunday evening watching clips of him on youtube, my favourite being the documentary Pete Burns Unspun, made straight after he came out of prison in 2006, and for legal reasons had to go and live with the obsessive fan who fronted his bail money. He's got a new single out which you can purchase here.

Sunday 10 October 2010

Bobby knows what Dick likes

Bobby Knows what Dick likes by gibletsounds
 
This mix is inspired by the work of creationist homophobe disco svengali Bobby Orlando, and by a magazine called G.E.M(Gay East Midlands). It was published in Nottingham between 1982 and 1983, when AIDs was 'gay cancer', homophobic attacks on the street were commonplace and gays huddled together in dingy basements and listened to disco music driven by an energy so anxious it verged on hysteria. Listening to this mix in one go may induce a mild feeling of nausea. 

Most of the songs were taken from the playlists and reviews in G.E.M's monthly music column, written by the Dj 'Queenie' from Nottinghams gay disco 'Part II'. You can read all nine issues of G.E.M on their archive website here and get a feeling for how claustrophic and terrifying the gay scene in a provincial English town was 30 years ago.

Eastbound Expressway - Primitive Desire











Like a lot of Hi-NRG 'groups' Eastbound Expressway didn't really exist, the name was just a front for English producer,and Heaven dj, Ian Levine's songwriting and production. The vocals were provided by three session singers, Norma, Shirley & Dee Lewis. Queenie says "Rough, raunchy jungle beat - ideal for popper sniffers!"


Waterfront Home - Take a Chance on Me











Another fictional band, Waterfront Home were one of the many names used, and discarded, by Bobby Orlando to release records in the early 80s. Queenie says "Drooling undertones of synthetic sound seem to be his speciality, but anything that has his label on it seems to be a sure- fire hit."

Karen Finley - Lick It










Karen Finley is a performance artist, writer and musician from New York. Her music became an extension of her performance monologues in the 80s, setting her maniacal ranting to a tinny disco beat.

Jessica Williams - Queen of Fools











Now I'm not here to judge you
You know wrong from right
What you do in the nighttime
Will come out in the light

Jessica Williams has been singing since she could talk! Queen of Fools is a more conventional disco song with the bpm and the tension racheted up a few notches. Love inevitably leads to dissapointment, there are hardly any happy fags.


Norma Lewis - Maybe This Time 











 One of Ian Levine's session singers, Norma Lewis scored a few hits under her own name, including this gorgeous disco version of Maybe This Time.


The Flirtations - Earthquake











 "We'd reach up to 10 on the richter scale
If love could be measured that way" 
The Flirtations are a real group. They started out in the 60's singing RnB, before dabbling in torch songs and Northern Soul. In the 70's they went through their disco period and then in the early 80's they jumped on the Hi-NRG bandwagon and released Earthquake. Unbelievably they're still together and looking eerily young for women who've been at it for more than 40 years. Ones of the members is called Pearly Gates.


Corruption - Show Me Yours











A very coy song by a mysterious group called Corruption, I can't find anything out about them, but sadly this seems to be the only record they released. 

Sylvester & Patrick Cowley - Menergy










Patrick Cowley's one of my favourite producers on all time. This song, released in 1981, celebrates all the 'boys in the backroom, loving it up'. Perhaps it is possible to be happy as a gay man, so long as you don't form any emotional attachments.




Bizzy & Co. - Take a Chance











Slightly demented Hi-NRG/Italo crossover, with one of the most beautifuly surreal Italian TV videos I've ever seen. I wish my reality could be this glamourous.




Patrick Cowley - Megatron Man











Classic San Francisco high energy from Megatone Records. Cowley died of 'gay cancer' 8 months after the song was released.


Tapps - My Forbidden Lover











Tapps were Canada's contribution to the gay Hi-NRG scene - it went global.


Rofo - Flashlight on a Disco Night











Released in January 1983 I like to imagine this as the soundtrack to my birth. It's a little bit ravey, in a Belgian way.


Divine - Shake it Up (instr)











Bob Orlando's collaboration with Divine was a marraige made in gay heaven. Rumour has it that they stopped making records together because Bobby tried, unsuccessfully, to convince Divine to renounce homosexuality.



Karen Finley - I'm an Ass Man











Finley celebrates the joy of bum sex.