Vampyros Lesbos

This song is from the Vampyros Lesbos soundtrack conducted and written by Manfred Hublert and Seigfried Schwab. Vampyros Lesbos is a German-Spanish erotic vampire film from 1971. I haven't seen the film in years. I remember it being very beautiful and very sexy, but the plot was a bit boring and I think I fell asleep. The film and soundtrack are a relic of the swinging 60s into 70s attitude. Most of the songs are a little too earnest to bear, but I really like this one. I highly recommend this film for video collage projects or sexy nightclub visuals. Kinda like this guy did...


MIDIO Vampyros Lesbos from Conor on Vimeo.

Vampyros Lesbos Sexadelic Dance Party- The Lions and the Cucumber

Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Kevin Dunn And The Regiment Of Women are a New Wave band from the the early 80s. My favorite song of theirs is an instrumental from The Judgement of Paris LP released by Armageddon Records in 1981.

Kevin Dunn And The Regiment Of Women- Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Glass Candy And The Shattered Theatre

My friend Christopher requested that I put up the "Metal Gods" 7" from 2000. Here you go Christopher! We used to go to the same shows!



Tracklisting:
A Metal Gods
B Hurt

Brittle Women

This is a Glass Candy And The Shattered Theatre song from 1999. They released this 7" themselves. "Brittle Women" is one of my favorite songs from their early years. The first shows I saw of them were in small underground clubs, basement parties, and a Japanese restaurant. I loved them back then, and I love them now. I hope you enjoy this track. You might be surprised if you only know their more recent music.



Glass Candy And The Shattered Theatre

Tracklisting:

A Brittle Women
B Hang Onto Yourself

Snowy Red

Snowy Red is one of the precious gems from the minimal wave era of the early 1980s. Snowy Red is more obscure, but not less talented than his contemporaries: Suicide, The Normal, and Visage. Little is known about Snowy Red beyond it's origin in Belgium and the name of it's craftsman, the mysterious Micky Mike. I have to say, Snowy Red are to me the synthetic sound of the spiritual-punk-psychedelic soul. These two songs have resided on my list of favorite songs since first hearing them in 2003.



Snowy Red- The Wild Boys (from the self titled LP 1981)

Snowy Red- Nowhere (from The Right To Die LP 1982)

Desire: The New Johnny Jewel Production on Italians Do it Better

Desire is the new music project produced Johnny Jewel (of Glass Candy and Chromatics and signed to the Italians Do It Better record label. The group came about after Johnny met singer Megan Louise in Montreal. Assured that she was the perfect voice for his new songs, Johnny left his long time home in Portland for Montreal. Desire is made up of three integral members, Megan Louise (vocals and synthesizer), Johnny Jewel (guitar & synthesizer), and Nat Walker (drums). Desire opened the show for Glass Candy last night at Rotture in Portland. They gave away Desire CDs at the show. Click on the blue song title to listen and download the tracks.



DESIRE

1. Introduction/ Montre Moi Ton Visage
2. Mirror Mirror
3. Under Your Spell
4. Dans Mes Reves
5. If I Can't Hold You

Craig Drake Is Awesome!

Craig Drake is a talented guy. He's been making great dance music since the 90s in projects such as Cantina, PJ Pooterhoots, Lleggs, and a new secret project I have yet to hear. He's also the senior designer at Lucas Films Online. "I make sure lasers look good on the internet" jokes Drake in an interview with starwars.com.
Click on this link to read the full article. http://www.starwars.com/vault/collecting/news20080924.html

The illustration below was created by Drake for starwars.com after they saw some of the Patrick Nagel style illustrations he had been working on over the past couple of years. The Gudren Wolf icon for this blog was also created by Craig Drake. He is currently working on many more "Craigels" that will be on exhibit in Portland, Oregon at the Neon party at the Branx nightclub on Friday, June 5th. He will also be performing his music live as PJ Pooterhoots at this show.



In the spirit of Star Wars, here's a remix of "Cantina" by Craig Drake under one of his early projects called Cantina.

Cantina- Mos Eisley Medley Craig Drake Original Version

PJ Pooterhoots- Liebe Meine Barf!

LLeggs- Those Amazing Winders

Cherry Blossoms

The Art of Francesco D'Isa

I got a friend request a couple of days ago from Francesco D'Isa, an Italian artist who's obsessed with beautiful women with amputated limbs. His subjects are iconic like the Queen of a deck of cards or the now armless sculptures of the goddesses of ancient Greece. These are his saints.


















Francesco D'Isa's website

Bryan Zentz "Midnight Teeth"

Portland's techno hero, Bryan Zentz has a new 12" release out on Richie Hawtin and John Acquaviva's label, Plus 8 called "Midnight Teeth". The 12" EP is home to two new songs, "Lokjaw" and "Shadowtalk". There are two additional tracks available for digital download, "Vania" and "Fixed Eye".

"Lokjaw" is a judicious choice for a minimal techno set that's about to peak. The name accurately describes the song's feeling of teeth grinding and heightened anticipation. It begins with an almost ominous bassline and the full bodied presence of a blown out bass drum. The vibe lightens and teases with each layer that drops. A warm, cricket-like percussion weaves among playful, wet bleeps and bloops. The beat shuffles and dances funky with the bassline. Zentz keeps the song unpredictable with lots of drum fills of exciting varieties and tastefully understated jazz and dub melodies. When "Lokjaw" is played you'll know it's time to shut up and dance.

Listen to the Bryan Zentz "Midnight Teeth" EP

New Ssion Video

Ssion has a new music video out and like all the others they've made, it's hilarious! I'm aching for a chance to catch them live someday. Looks like they'd put on one hell of a show:)

Ssion- "Nightclubbing"


Here are some older ones:

Ssion- "Street Jizz"


Ssion- "Credit In The Straight World"


Here's the original version of "Credit In The Straight World"
Young Marble Giants- "Credit In The Straight World"

Ssion Myspace

Tim Callinu and Lucky Strike

MySpace is so cool. I hear so many complaints about it, but I shamelessly love it! I've met so many amazing people from that site who are now actual flesh and blood friends of mine. I've been exposed to so much awesome art and music from pretty much every continent on the globe.
Today I got a friend request from "Lost Dominion" who is Tim Callinu, an artist in Portland, who could be my next door neighbor for all I know! I don't know him, but here's some of his art.




artwork by Tim Callinu


LUCKY STRIKE



In other news, I finally found the best Chinese restaurant in Portland: Lucky Strike! It's a bit of a trek getting to it, located at 123rd and Powell, but well worth the journey. Lucky Strike is the closest to authenticate Sichuan cuisine I've had in a Portland Restaurant. I am lucky enough to have some friends who have cooked me authentic Sichuan, specifically Chengdu, style food and it is delicious! From what I've been told, most of the Portland Chinese restaurants serve Americanized versions of Mandarin cuisine: syrupy sweet deep fried morsels or stir frys drowning dispassionately in a bland, translucent gravy. Sichuan cuisine is bold, spicy, smokey, and complex! The Sichuan peppercorn and salty black (broad) bean paste are the most important and unique ingredients to this cuisine and have been absent at every PDX restaurant except for this one. The Sichuan peppercorn is a bizarre flavor/ experience unlike anything else. It is both a flavor and a sensation. It has a bit of a floral flavor that numbs the tongue and mouth. After eating one, inhale with your mouth and you can feel the sensation of the tiny pores on your lips and tongue opening up and cool air pleasantly shooting into them. Ask the server to bring you one to taste alone! It's such a special spice that's so rare to these parts!
I had the pork and cabbage dumplings, the dan dan noodles, and the Guinness Pork Ribs. All three dishes were out of control delicious! Check it out and bring friends so you can try out a few different things!

DW Remix of "Spacer Woman"

Illustration by DW Design

"Spacer Woman" is one of my favorite Italo Disco tracks. In the original, the singer's warbling voice sounds so sad and earnest, like a softer version Nico. She makes me feel as though she is on the verge of having her heart broken and is pleading for love and trust from the cold and suspicious Earthling she's singing to. I was very excited when I saw that DW remixed this song. His version begins with a more prominent, meditative, and droning bass line then suddenly jumps right into the vocal hook of the song with a new flirty feel. His playful use of reverberating drum fills, looping, and a new cheerful, baroque-style synth harpsichord melody color the singer as a more confident and optimistic Spacer Woman.

Charlie- Spacer Woman (DW Remix)

Charlie- Spacer Woman (original)

DW MySpace

Mystery Cat and His Mix Tape

Christian Petersen is a British photographer, illustrator, and graphic designer currently residing in Seattle, Washington. He is co-founder of the graphic and web design company Dumb Eyes. In 2007, he won the "Erotic Photographer of the Year" award in England.

Christian Petersen, also known as Mystery Cat, photographs women employing his unique eye for clever geometric and symmetrical framing. The minimal, yet dramatic use of color in his work grab at the eye in the otherwise dark and muted tones dominating his images.

His work is sexy, mysterious, and clever. His romantic world is that of urban nymphs and curious sex kittens.

Below are some of Christian Petersen's photographs. You can view many, many more (including nudes) at his Mystery Cat flickr page.

Visit his website, too! http://www.christianjpetersen.com/















180 magazine asked him to do a photo story. View the story, titled "Bucket".

Christian was kind enough to send me his awesome mix tape titled, "New Space Age" to include with my post.

"New Space Age" Download it here!

Track Listing:

1. Jean-Luc Ponty- Cosmic Messenger
2. Love You Madly Orchestra- Moon Maiden
3. Phuture Pfantasy Club- Slam (Trax Over-Ride Mix)
4. Suzy Lane- Ohh La la
5. The Shocking Blue- Love Buzz
6. Pico- Malaguena (Manny Slali remix)
7. The Feelies- Crazy Rhythms
8. Model 500- Interference (Mix 1)
9. Drinking Electricity- Breakout
10. Lime- On the Grid
11. Laurie Spiegel- Patchwork
12. Gino Soccio- There's A Woman
13. Bessie Jones and Group- Sometimes
14. Stephen Halpern and Georgia Kelly- Sand Dance

DW Design

The art of DW Design reveals a beautiful world in the future where electronic music is celebrated to a religious status and people live in a digital metropolis, some human, some animal, some machine. It's a romantic world where dancing to computer music is a sacred rite. Spiritualism is practiced in the creation and use of technology.

DW Design's artwork has been commissioned by many electronic musicians such as Miami Horror, Le Castle Vania, and Eli Smith.

To commission artwork from DW Designs please contact him at darkwoods@europe.com

Below are some samples of his work. For each image, I have chosen a song that I think somehow fits its theme. Enjoy!


SebastiAn- Momy (Erol Alkan's Simple Yet Effective Edit)


Dirty Hospital- Leave the Planet


Simian Mobile Disco- Wooden (Danton Eeprom Remix)


Polyphonic Size- Parlez-vous
*I'm not sure if "Parlez-vous is the correct title of this song. Lost the liner notes and I recorded the record out of sequence 5 years ago. It's likely from the Walkin' Everywhere LP and since there are several languages being spoken in this song, "Parlez-vous" seemed like a good guess.


Patrick Cowley- Megatron Man


Siriusmo-Femuscle


Rodion- Donq


Fox N' Wolf- Claws Against Knives (Todd Terje remix)



DMX Krew- Texture Mapping

Frivolous

Frivolous is the imaginary personification of Daniel Gardner's obsession with sound-design for both dancing and living alike. Manifesting itself in a multitude of performances and recorded works, his sound has been described as Jazz-infused minimal or experimental house. Stemming from an educational background in Classical Piano, electronics and Interdisciplinary Design, his "dynamic" one-man performances have taken stage from Montreal to Germany, Moscow to Texas, and many places in between all the way back to his birthplace of Vancouver BC . Currently, Gardner is calling Berlin "Home".
(taken from the Frivolous Myspace page )



Frivolous played a live set this past Thursday in Portland at Rotture. Portland was his first show in his most recent US west coast tour. Fresh off the jet from Berlin, the jetlagged Daniel Gardner gave Portland a spectacular perfomance incorporating live keyboard playing, live vocals through his red vintage telephone, and ambient/experimental tones derived from his contact mic on a knife jabs on metal-looped and effected to add a more analog and organic layer to his songs.

Check out this video to get a glimpse at what he does.

Video of Frivolous performing live.

I took a bunch of photos at the show. To view more please visit my flickr.com page.
Aside from being an excellent experimental house producer, Daniel Gardner also makes great DJ mixes. My favorite of his DJ mixes is titled, "House of Glass".

DJ Daniel Gardner- "House of Glass" mix

Here is the track listing he gave for "House of Glass"
1. Minilogue - Certain Things About Us (Part2)
2. Dub Kult - BIP
3. MIA - Safe Night
4. Thomas Melchior & Luciano - Father
5. Roman - So In La With Ya (Losoul Remix)
6. Miskate - A Day In The Life of Us
7. Pepe Bradock - Panash
8. Heiko Laux - Moved (Villalobos Rmx)
9. I only wish I knew this one... just an email promo that i always play that is called: NML08B1...???
10. Can't remember or find this one either... sorry.
11. Wishmoutain - Radio
12. Justin Marin & Sammy D - Swamp Thing
13. Soul Phiction Feat. Suzana Rozkosny - Appelle Moi
14. Max Mohr - Old Song
15. It is some
International Pony - Leaving Home / Losoul Feat Maite Warriors - Jam
Mash-Up... again... ?

Visit his MySpace page to hear more songs.
He's got a ton of releases available on vinyl, CD, and digital download. His music is well worth your money, so please support this artist and buy his music.

Valerie Dore- Emotion

Valerie Dore- Emotion

I haven't been able to find any information about this song. In my discogs.com search I couldn't even find it on an album. It's a great song, though for those who love romantic dance Italo Disco. With a prominent dance beat at 113 bpm that never breaks, a melancholy melody played on synth and electric guitar, and dreamy, emotional french vocals, "Emotion" is great song for creating a nostalgic and romantic vibe on the dance floor.

Valerie Dore was a pop star from the early to mid 1980s in Italy and France.
Valerie Dore is the name of a musical project, not a real person. The person portraying Valerie Dore is actually Monica Stucchi who often lip syncs the vocals which were sung by a variety of different women over Valerie Dore's career.

Monica Stucchi has a history with the stage dating back to age 15 singing songs in Italian bars. She was a fashion model at the time she was discovered by the successful Italian music family, Nicolosi. Monica's good looks and other-worldly dance and stage performance made her the perfect woman to front a romantic pop music group even if she wasn't the real singer.

The singer who actually did most of the singing for Valerie Dore is Italian singer Dora Carofiglio. Dora Carolfiglio is a prominent female vocalist in Italo Disco. She was the vocalist on "Call Me Mr. Telephone" by Answering Service and "Funky is On" by Funky Family. Valerie Dore is cited as one of contemporary Swedish electro-pop singer, Sally Shapiro's vocalist influences.

Monica Stucchi did do a bit of singing on Valerie Dore recordings. I wonder if she is the voice on "Emotion".