Bradley's Buzz

OTV's "Disco Is A Nightmare"

Disco Is A Nightmare 

After listening to the brand new Orange Television album, "Disco Is A Nightmare" over and over for the last month, I thought it was time to share my thoughts on the album with all of you, so you too can get down with the disco. In fact after reading the review I'm sure you too will want your own copy, which you can get by visiting www.orangetelevision.org - but without further to dos or ta das, I give you

"DARK DISCO"

The emancipation of Mimi may be filling up small minds but Orange Television’s evolution as the new aficionados of dark wave is what is keeping my ears ringing. Disco Is A Nightmare, the new release by Orange Television is a ride into a world of lost friendships and disappearing bar flies where every song tells some tragic yet beautiful story to the backbeat of thumping electronics.

“Pent Up & Muddy” opens the album with Adult type loops and a little of that Mary J. Blige soul to create a brand new sound for Orange Television. Then the vocals come in with that slight Dave Gahan infliction informing us this is where the muscle stops. In fact, it’s Patrick’s voice on this cut that really pulled me in. He is very in control of the song including the over dubbed back vocals adding an ever-juicier touch. This is one of my favorite tracks on the album.

Then it’s on to the battle for best song as we enter “Red Army vs. White Army” where every element of enjoyable electronic new wave comes together from the keyboard loops to the excited vocal interpretation and if “Pent Up & Muddy” had a Depeche feel, this one takes it right into full on Mode. Somewhat dark, yet somewhat energizing, this song has it all including the best vocals I’ve ever heard. The breakdowns leading to the backing vocals coming in screaming, “I’m bleeding” is pure new wave genius. The overdubs, the breakdowns, the spoken words – I’m slaughtered.

“Haven’t Seen Quincy Is Two Long Years” begins with an ambient loop that soon welcomes an acoustic guitar and begins to build as we travel with the narrator searching for a long lost pal. Though mostly an instrumental (the only words are the title) the pacing of the music including the guitar emote a feeling of longing. As the song moves from the slow beat to the more thunderous drum beat, reminiscent of Clem Burke, it feels as though we are following the narrator from the Spanish flavored “La Isla Bonita” through the jungles of the “Orchid Club” looking for the lost Quincy. In this new Orange Television world things seem to be a tad more complicated and though I’m not Quincy nor the narrator I can’t help but feeling that longing I miss from my own la isla bonita world. This is one I listen to over and over.

Seemingly having lost Quincy to the elements we meet “The Boy With The Brian Jones Smile” which is not only a fabulous title, it contains the line “Right away, I knew his font was Garamond” which to me is the most ingenious line since “You’re a dried up twig on a family tree” was uttered by Deborah Harry on “Die Young Stay Pretty.” “The Boy…” starts with clanks and clunks and moving into keyboard waves, and as a female voice bids us “goodbye” we segue into some classic Orange Television territory. The overdubs, the lyrics, and the delivery are classic OTV but with a new sense of purpose. Though always witty with lyrics Patrick has really dug into some real stuff for this album and this time around we aren’t just meeting the strange and fabulous characters of Orange Television, we are beginning to care about them and feel as if we too are suddenly in love with that Brian Jones smile and all the desperation and disappointment that comes with it.

The fifth song, “Listen, I Understand Water” has been on rotation on my computer since I first got Disco Is A Nightmare. It is my favorite song on the album and it’s my favorite Orange Television song to date. With one second of a watery guitar loop and a two time drum beat, “You’re made of it” is sung with such bravado you can’t help but stop and pay attention. This song could have been done by any of the big wigs in angst electronic drama, it’s Bowie, it’s Placebo - particularly with its mild arrangement and the spoken lines, this fits in with the balladry of “Without You I’m Nothing.” The vocals are fantastic, the fuzzy keyboard in the middle, the spoken lines, it’s a ballad with feeling, it’s a feeling with ballad – it’s so great! In fact I may have to do a version. I have to go and listen to it again right now!

“Starry Eyed Dreamer (An Exquisite Corpse)” has Orange Television written all over it. In fact with this song Disco Is A Nightmare moves into a different direction. Where the first half was full of dark waved plight yet energizing in music form, the second half of the album, is more of a good old fashioned OTV album with its artistic musical interpretations crossing between Depeche Mode and Yoko Ono, something I’ve always felt Orange Television aspired to be. “Starry Eyed” is full of classic clinks, clanks and various samples that create the aura of a science fiction movie. In the midst of computerized music aura, the TV is on and you switch channels repeatedly wondering if the woman on the TV is really a starry eyed dreamer and hoping the medical condition you are hearing about doesn’t involve you. The whole thing ends with a bunch of rants by George Dubya adding that classic sarcastic Orange Television touch. This is one sci fi trip that could end with Videodrome. Classic.

“When The Boys Come Rushing In” is another song where Patrick shows how great of a lyric writer and singer he can be. With Disco Is A Nightmare he is fast becoming the electronic (and male) Johnette Napolitano, creating stories in lyrical form about the strange and entertaining characters he meets. Perhaps it’s because I know the places and people he is singing about or perhaps he it is because he is just that good but I feel like I’m there “in this bar,” where I’m a star. Musically, the keyboards are the driving force of the song where the angst ridden narrator is not going anywhere without getting one of the loser boys who come rushing into the city before a backbeat kicks in and the cat fights start. I love this part. From this part on the song takes on a Ladytron feel, but with that classic OTV style. I am there at the fight, with the vomiting, with the boys who come rushing in, wondering which asshole my drunk ass will take home.

More stories of the degenerate and fabulous are tackled in “The Ballad Of Mylar Black” and with the placing of the song after “When The Boys…” you get the feeling you are just spending a night at a small town bar where people come and go as the main stays watch the wretched weave their webs. In this case, it’s Mylar Black who spends her time in “the sad shoe shops of river city” but she is leaving and in one of the most clever choruses, our black angel flies away, “up, up and away like a mylar balloon.” I love the song and the dramatic rendering of the vocals – it’s Marilyn McCoo meets Bryan Ferry! Very clever and sad – I miss Mylar Black and I don’t even know her.

Anger isn’t something usually found on an Orange Television and with the exception of “Trim Your Bush” from last year there hasn’t been much in the form of political movements in songs and whether or not Patrick meant anything on purpose, “Armchair Fashionistas” definitely has a political angry feel. Using punk ideals with electronic urgency it could be the love child of Johnny Rotten and Hazel O’Connor. It’s punk rock, it’s new wave, it’s dark wave, it’s 1981, it’s 2010. In fact the song is so familiar yet so new, it leaves me wondering how many people influenced it and how many more could be influenced by it. “Armchair Fashionistas” is my second favorite on the album and again it’s been on rotation since I got the album. It’s the best new wave song Orange Television has ever done and if you don’t like it you should make sad puppets and shut up!

“The Feel (Get Lifted)” has me at the gay pride festival holding my cold beer in the hot California sun while unclad boys dance around as the black diva on the stage pleads to her circuit boy crowd to bond over the music, cuz honey it don’t matter if you got two feet.

We come full circle in the evolution of Orange Television as Disco Is A Nightmare concludes with an old ditty from the past. “My Pussy Is Burning” is classic Orange Television in every essence. Incorporating clangy samples and a voiced over shocking story of a woman’s burning pussy phone prank “My Pussy” contains everything an Orange Television track is known for. Though the song was made in 2002 and not in 1999, it takes me back to the basements of And a ½ Studios where it was just mishes, mashes, loops, beers and a dream.

Yes, the glory of the new Orange Television is the realization that new wave can come right out of your ear phones and bite you on the ass. Brian Milko will surely slit his wrists in envy.

posted by swivek @ 11:04 PM