traci lords - 1000 dances
today after a protracted issue with the postal service, i at last received a
cd i ordered a few weeks ago : traci lords - 1000 fires - complete with its fire
red inlay tray !
i can't recall exactly what made me hit that 'buy now' button, but i'm bloody
glad i did. released in 1995 on the radioactive label, this saw the infamous
traci move away from her previous career (careful with that google function) and
try out that ever difficult new direction - techno pop princess. rather than
making a bland, heard-it-all-before album full of saccharine styled ballads,
traci roped in several 'well known' techno producers and let it rip in the
studio.
firstly, the majority of the album (4 of the 10 tracks) was forged under the
masterful direction of ben watkins, aka juno reactor, aka one half of the
forgotten but my own personal fave, sunsonic. a man who easily competes
with classic era william orbit, ben has the same way with wibbly wobbly synth
noises, he straps on massive acid lines, pumped up beats, and generally enjoys
throwing all manner of weirdness into the mix (choral samples, twang guitars)
making for some excellently tacky but brilliant techno-pop-dance tracks. also
involved on several tracks was mike 'jesus jones' edwards. someone who i would
have never have believed could actually produce such deeply warm sonics. his
contributions, 'distant land' and the more disturbing 'fathers field', both have
a distinctly synthetic electro triphop level to them, and the album closer, 'okey
dokey' mutates into a 6 minute massive acid overload, making mikes tracks tracks
easily sit well alongside bens own ibiza house creations. then finally, there
are the 3 babble produced tracks. babble was basically the leftovers from the
thompson twins, tom bailey and allanah currie, who steer the excellent 'i want
you' into a very deep-n-low growler of a track. another album highlight.
admittedly, the vocals aren't all that noticeable, and the lyrics are rather
cringesome at times, but hey, does anyone really care. tis all about the noises
that emanates from the machines, the moods, the beat. and, with that in mind, in
this revised era where we are one again allowed to admit to loving all things
electro, i would not be surprised if dj hell has a copy of this album within
reach.
and so the knock on effect of this discovery, has been a scurry through the
archive to dig out the excellent sunsonic back catalogue. in which ben teamed up
with adam peters to make an excellent solitarily album, 'melting down on motor
angel', three singles were released in 90/91 with heavily stylised covers, lots
of high profile remixes (808 state, paul oakenfold etc) but to little attention.
which is a shame, as several years later, underworld took the sunsonic blueprint
and took over the world with their own brand of melodic heavy throbbing
basslines, cinematic production, off the wall lyrics, matched with some great
pop songs. i alone saw a direct connection in the sound of the 2 bands, but twas
too late sunsonic were well and truly over as ben had gone onto become juno
reactor (and producer of traci's album as i now find out !). but what of adam
peters ?
internet digging years ago revealed little other than some strange rumours re cults, but that was then, and this is now.