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Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Upcoming Pearl Necklace, Arp, and Double Entendres

Posted by Kathy Fennessy on Wed, Nov 28, 2012 at 10:23 AM

Smalltown Supersound

I've never been especially fond of band names that signify a sexual act, organ, or device. I mean, I'm not completely opposed to the practice; it just seems like something a naughty prep-school kid would do—like naming your group after William S. Burroughs' pet name for a rubber penis. It's better than calling yourself Dildo, I suppose, though there's something to be said for transparency.

Once punk came along, however, the need subsided for safe-for-radio names, like the Naked Lunch-inspired Steely Dan, and the floodgates opened for the likes of the Vibrators, the Penetrators, the Dicks, and others who weren't exactly aiming for FM airplay, but I'll take 'em over Puffy Areolas or Anal Cunt. As Lemmy would say: "No class, no class."

So now we have Pearl Necklace, a name so SFR your granny would probably smile if you asked her if she ever owned one. Or if she found them appealing. "Ah yes," she might say, "they were really big in the 1950s." Indeed, they were. And that's the thing with some of the classier sexual references—they're timeless.

Label mate Arp (Alexis Georgopoulos) appears on three Soft Opening selections.

And I had a feeling I'd enjoy the new track from Brooklyn's Bryce Hackford and Frank Lyon. Not because of their name—or even in spite of it—but because Smalltown Supersound previously released The Cherry Thing and The Cherry Thing Remixes, and they put the adventurous Norwegian label on my radar.

Check out the mp3 for "Did You Feel It" featuring Arp here.

"Did You Feel It" doesn't recall Neneh Cherry or The Thing—they eschew vocals—but the duo deftly merges noise and melody into a dark and danceable concoction, like a delicious cocktail with a powerful kick. I particularly like the vinyl scratching and popping that punctuates the seven-minute song. Sexy. And classy.

Smalltown Supersound releases Pearl Necklace's debut, Soft Opening, on Jan 19.