Traci Lords : 1000 Fires

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.

so in the new age of passing the love on, expect an mp3 or 2 over the next few days/weeks.

in these dark days we all need a little more sun in our lives.

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mark e

ireallylovemusic