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Thursday, January 22, 2009

Classic / Dust Bin Excuse Me While I Liquid Sky

Posted by on Thu, Jan 22, 2009 at 5:02 PM

[Inspired by reading the re:Discovery column in Wax Poetics 32.]

Love it or hate it, you can’t deny the seminal impact Liquid Sky’s soundtrack has had on a certain strain of electronic music. The alienating dread and tonal oddness (created on the first digital synth, the Fairlight CMI) pervading Brenda Hutchinson and Clive Smith’s score rarely have been matched by its emulators. This is the dark underbelly of the cartoonish, robotic electro funk that predominated in the early ’80s. As with the Normal’s “Warm Leatherette,” it seems like an unlikely object for nostalgia (or a Grace Jones cover), but if you wait long enough, just about everything will come back in vogue.

The Detroit group Adult. pretty much owe their entire shtick to the track depicted in this infamous performance from the 1982 film [see video below].

“Me and My Rhythm Box”

This scene from a fashion show is also exceptional.

 

Comments (2) RSS

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1
Not only have Adult. ridden the white horse of 'Liquid Sky' hard, but they've more or less covered the song verbatim on their remix of 'Oddjob' by Phoenecia from their 'Oddjob Discrimination' single. I'm a fan of the original, but Adult. really nails 'Me and My Rhythm Box'.

Bonus: a few years ago I wanted to transform 'Warm Leatherette' into dancehall riddim. It's not so far fetched...
Posted by cosby on January 23, 2009 at 9:38 AM
2
Cosby, you should totally do that "Warm Leatherette" cover.
Posted by segal on January 23, 2009 at 3:22 PM

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