porntronica
Welcoming The New Age Of Boobs, Butts And Blowjobs
Electronic music has been many things for many people: music about injustice and liberation, music about acceptance and togetherness, and music about futurism and intelligence. Now, with the recent release of a number of video and DVD titles, it seems as if the time has come to usher in a new age of electronic music representing the more sexual side of humanity, and what better name for it than "Porntronica?" What's nice about this new-found audio-visual trend is the variety of social messages imbedded within the throbbing folds of flesh, the indulgence in metaphor, and the laissez-faire mentality that right out says: "Sex is rather nice." It wasn't hard to find a selection of videos that represent this growing movement of openness toward sexual themes, and even less difficult to find an opportunity to watch them:
SUCK IT AND SEE Presented by Palm Pictures (VHS/DVD) - Howie B has pulled together a solid score of sexy breakbeat tracks from his own Pussyfoot label to create the soundtrack to what can only be called artsy, cheap, soft-core porn. In a thirty minute collection of various scenes, sans dialog, we are lead through the life of a woman who gets off a plane, meets her boyfriend in a waiting Rolls, shags him in the back seat (while thinking about the guy she just achieved Mile High status with during her plane flight), they cut to a scene where they all go for a naked swim, and then the woman gets together sauna-style with the slithering female driver of the Rolls ... The setting is modern but decidedly smacks of sixties sensuality, almost saying 'let's go back to a time in Western culture when sex wasn't such a terrible thing,' with an appropriately sensual soundtrack that kicks some serious ass featuring such artists as Tim 'Love' Lee, Spacer, Deadly Avenger, Three Wheels Out, and track titles like "Love Thong," "Atomic Fuck Machine," and "Cum Dancing." Because the images here are erotic, but not overt, and the production low-budget, yet with artful intent, "Suck It and See" is playful, soulful, and embodies the proud inherent sexiness that Howie B and crew's breakbeats embody.
ADD N TO (X) "EPK" Mute Records (VHS) - An offshoot from the British indie scene, taking their name from a synthesizer manual, Add N to (X) is a collection of gear-o-philes that collect odd electronic instruments and perform punky, frenetic forays into phonics. The video for "EPK" reflects this trio of experimentalists' raw composition style, and 'experimental' would definitely be the theme for the video's jaunty, illustrated antics. The plot outline is simple: an obviously horny woman calls on a robotic love service, the robot comes over promptly, whips out a series of amenities, which don't impress the fair lady, until he pulls out an object which looks quite like a small missile. Mayhem ensues, including a hilarious human-machine 69 position, and eventually she sexually exhausts the robot to the point of destruction in a sound-synchronized climax that is both humorous and harrowing. The obvious message here is the humor we discover in the seemingly impossible occasion that a human's instinct to copulate could conquer the steadfast durability of a machine. What about what this music video says of female dominance over men due to the increasingly less-important role of the male figure within a technologically advanced society. Powerful stuff. [More]
APHEX TWIN "WINDOWLICKER" Sire Records (VHS) - Perhaps the most socio-politically powerful member of the electronic music community, Richard James never speaks but makes his opinions heard. The outright contradiction and sarcasm of the Aphex Twin shines through brightly on "Windowlicker," a brilliant production by the brilliant director Chris Cunningham. The scene opens with two inner-city males talking about how much they want to get laid using the word words 'fuck' and 'bitches' as many times as is humanly probable within the confines of the English language. They confront two women, argumentatively try to lure them in, get dissed and wham, bam here comes the Mac. In the back of an impossibly long limo, the Aphex Twin character awes the women by stepping out and launching into a Michael Jacksonesque dance routine erotically involving an umbrella. Summarily impressed, the girls' faces transform into Aphex Twin masks, they get in the limo full of a writhing mass of sexy Aphex Twin look-alikes, and cruise off to the beach followed by the two cursing and deflated men. At this point an indulgence in really trite 80's dance choreography takes place, where the Aphex Twin character dirty dances with what is essentially his symbolic self! The genius part of the Aphex Twin persona is that he capitalizes on the placement of his face and image on everything, a typical marketing technique but with the contradiction that says, 'Hey, I'm marketing myself,' and ultimately mocking the entire thing by being so over-the-top that one is left with the impression that the whole corporate machine seems completely obvious and stupid. The message here is that Richard James is literally loving Richard James, over-indulging in self-love and egotism and therefore unmasking the truth: that pop-stars are a bunch of arrogant fuckers!
Andrew Smith, XLR8R. Reprinted with permission.
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