Dystopian Dance Party

Author: Zach

  • Jheri Curl June: DāM-FunK’s “Searchin’ 4 Funk’s Future”

    Jheri Curl June: DāM-FunK’s “Searchin’ 4 Funk’s Future”

    We make a big deal every year about “late-era Jheri Curl Music” and its apparent obsolescence at the hands of, chiefly, New Jack Swing; but the truth is, reports of J.C.M.’s death have always been greatly exaggerated. Yes, the wetter, silkier side of contemporary R&B did fall out of favor, replaced by harder beats and more hip-hop-inspired posturing; but there have always been keepers of the electro-funk flame, whether through direct samples, influence, or simply existing artists continuing to plough their furrow despite the pop world’s ever-shifting winds. It’s to these artists, the Jheri Curl faithful, that we’re turning our attention in the last few days of JCJ.

    And to kick things off, I can’t think of a better artist than Damon Garrett Riddick, better known as DāM-FunK. The Southern California-based Riddick isn’t a Jheri Curl revivalist so much as a disciple; he started making music as a teen in the late ’80s and early ’90s, some of which can be heard on the 2010 compilation Adolescent Funk. But he didn’t release his debut solo album, the sprawling 2-CD/5-LP (!) Toeachizown, until 2009, well after his chosen brand of synthesizer-assisted grooves had acquired a patina of retro cool. This contradiction is woven into the fabric the album itself: On the one hand, its ’80s credentials are legit, with production by no less a personage than first-wave Jheri Curl architect Leon Sylvers III; but on the other hand, its presence on underground hip-hop label Stones Throw, home of J Dilla and Madvillain, situates it indelibly in mid-to-late-2000s crate-digger culture.

    None of which, incidentally, is a bad thing: in fact, DāM-FunK’s cult positioning grants him an artistic freedom and fluidity few of the artists we typically cover here ever had the opportunity to flex. Case in point: “Searchin’ 4 Funk’s Future,” a musical mission statement of sorts that stretches its atmospheric synth pads, vintage drum programming, and Riddick’s muffled falsetto to an experimental near-eight-minute runtime. If J.C.M. Mark I took as its template Prince‘s run of early-’80s albums, then Mark II–at least as interpreted by DāM-FunK–sounds more like a high-generation Prince bootleg; and speaking as a big fan of Prince bootlegs, that’s a really interesting space to occupy.

    We’ll be back tomorrow to highlight more post-Jheri Curl jams; in the meantime, playlists are below:

  • Jheri Curl June: The Mac Band’s “Roses Are Red”

    Jheri Curl June: The Mac Band’s “Roses Are Red”

    The last week or so of Jheri Curl June is always a bittersweet experience, because with each passing day you’re reminded of the genre’s impermanence. Like the beautiful, delicate flower it was, Jheri Curl Music bloomed for only a short time; by the end of the ’80s, it was all but a distant memory. But even these waning years, there were still echoes of the J.C.M. glory days to be heard.

    My wife introduced me to one such echo, “Roses Are Red” by Flint, Michigan’s own Mac Band, the other day. Led by singing brothers Charles, Derrick, Kelvin, and Ray McCampbell, the group were signed to MCA Records in 1986 after winning that year’s Budweiser Showdown, a nationwide talent contest organized by the Houston-based Starstream Records. “Roses Are Red” was the third and most successful single from their 1988 debut album, which was confusingly titled The Mac Band Featuring the McCampbell Brothers and produced by multi-year JCJ alums L.A. Reid and Babyface, with musical contributions by David Lewis of Atlantic Starr.

    Like other LaFace productions of its vintage, “Roses Are Red” captured a transitional moment, with the hard-hitting drums (played by L.A. himself) heralding the coming of New Jack Swing. But just watch the video above, which looks like a group of uncles getting a few wine coolers deep and spontaneously trying to recreate Prince‘s video for “When Doves Cry”; these guys clearly had one foot in the mid-’80s, and you know what, I celebrate them for that.

    We’ll close out this year’s edition of Jheri Curl June next week! In the meantime, here are the playlists:

  • Jheri Curl June: Sylvester’s “Mutual Attraction”

    Jheri Curl June: Sylvester’s “Mutual Attraction”

    I’ll confess that this is one I’ve been sitting on for a while, mostly because Sylvester and Jheri Curl Music are two great tastes that don’t necessarily taste great together. Sure, there’s some overlap–both 1982’s All I Need and 1983’s Call Me have the odd synth squiggle that sets my Jheri sense atingle–but by and large, the “Queen of Disco”‘s dominion was squarely in the dance/Hi-NRG pocket: of the same lineage as the music we celebrate, yet ultimately distinct.

    Still, I can’t seem to let go of the idea of exploring the common ground between Sylvester and J.C.M.; so, what the hell, here’s the title track from his final album, 1986’s Mutual Attraction, arguably as close as he ever got to orthodox J.C.M. The song, like its parent album, is a little more sedate and muted than Sylvester’s usual fare–likely one reason why Mutual Attraction is rarely cited among his greatest work. But his soaring falsetto remains in fine form–he hadn’t yet contracted the AIDS-related illness that would tragically end his life just two years later–and look, if Sylvester of all people wanted to take a break from the dance floor, who are we to tell him no? It may not be “Do You Wanna Funk” or “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real),” but “Mutual Attraction” is the smooth and silky cooldown we didn’t know we needed.

    There’s more Jheri Curl and Jheri Curl-adjacent music–uptempo and otherwise–in the playlists below:

  • Jheri Curl June: Carl Carlton’s “Private Property”

    Jheri Curl June: Carl Carlton’s “Private Property”

    Over the weekend, I attended a Record Riot in nearby Frederick, Maryland; and, this being the midpoint of June, you could say I had Jheri Curl Music on the mind. I ended up walking out with a solid armful of vintage Jheri Curl on vinyl, including Break Out by the Pointer Sisters, Word Up! and Alligator Woman by Cameo, and today’s pick, the 1985 album Private Property by Carl Carlton.

    Long-time Jheri Curl Juners will recognize Carlton’s 1981 hit “She’s a Bad Mama Jama (She’s Built, She’s Stacked)” as the subject of our first-ever J.C.J. post way back in 2014. That song, written and produced by the ever-freaky Leon Haywood, was Carlton’s second-biggest hit after 1974’s “Everlasting Love.” The title track of Private Property, on the other hand, was not written by Haywood (it’s credited to Bar-Kays and Ebonee Webb manager/producer Allen A. Jones), but you’d be forgiven for thinking otherwise because it’s basically the same damn song; if you told me Carlton created the track by singing new lyrics over a slight rearrangement of his earlier hit, I’d honestly believe you. The only real difference is that now he’s landed the bad mama jama of his dreams, and is warning everyone within earshot to keep their distance: “Can you read the sign that says / ‘No trespassing’ from her feet to her head / ‘Cause all her body parts are P.V.T. / ‘Cause everything she has belongs to C.C.” It’s a musical sequel equal parts heartwarming (Carl’s found love!) and offputting; one hopes there’s a third song in the trilogy where he finally realizes that bad mama jamas’ bodies belong to themselves.

    Look, I’m not gonna lie, “Private Property” is a pale retread of “Mama Jama,” and the American record-buying public broadly agreed: the track only reached Number 28 on the R&B charts, while its predecessor went as high as Number 2. But I’ve long maintained that the key to the magic of Jheri Curl Music lies less in its milestones than its mediocrities, and this is exactly the kind of record I will always love to buy for five dollars sight unseen. Plus, of the tracks on the album, only “Private Property” and the even more minor hit “Slipped, Tripped (Fooled Around and Fell in Love)” (which also kinda sounds like “Bad Mama Jama,” if I’m being honest) are currently available on streaming services; I don’t know if the rest of it is worth listening to, but I’m excited to find out.

    In the meantime, you can stream “Private Property”–and our other picks from Jheri Curl June 2023 to date–below:

  • Jheri Curl June: Lucky Rosenbloom’s “Keep Your Faith in God”

    Jheri Curl June: Lucky Rosenbloom’s “Keep Your Faith in God”

    Twice already this week, we’ve remarked that an apparently secular Jheri Curl June selection could also work well as a gospel song. Well, for today’s song, we can do away with the subtext: Lucky Rosenbloom’s “Keep Your Faith in God” is, unequivocally, Jheri Curl Gospel–J.C. for J.C., if you will. The song first came to my notice in an Instagram post by the vinyl reissue label Numero Group, whose compilation Purple Snow: Forecasting the Minneapolis Sound is basically a holy text in these parts. Numero, I learned, had repressed the obscure 1985 single; I took one look at the cover, depicting Rosenbloom posed casually with his Korg keytar and guns out, and I knew this song was making the playlist this year.

    I’ll spare you an extended biography of Rosenbloom, if only because I’m already dangerously close to falling down a rabbit hole and I don’t want to be here all night; suffice to say that he’s something of a fixture in Twin Cities local media, his name cropping up frequently as a prominent Trump supporter and self-proclaimed “only African-American firearms instructor in Minnesota.” Back in 1985, though, he was a less controversial figure, best known as the host of cable access show Lucky Mania TV, where according to Numero he “encouraged kids to say no to drugs and take their vitamins.” This context helps explain “Keep Your Faith in God”‘s lo-fi, vaguely Tim and Eric-esque vibe, as Rosenbloom–over a primitive electronic pre-programmed beat–asks in his surprisingly high voice for “everybody who believes in God to get up out of your seat and stand up, because we’re about to have some fun.” The song proceeds with Rosenbloom continuing to placidly whip up the congregation over swathes of synthesizer (presumably the aforementioned Korg). Over the fade, he chuckles, “Who says that people who believe in God can’t have fun, huh?”

    “Keep Your Faith in God” is unlike any other song we’ve ever covered for Jheri Curl June; it’s less “wet and silky ’80s R&B” than borderline outsider music. Had Lucky Rosenbloom been a fringe media figure in pretty much any other urban center, we’d probably never have heard of him; but he just happened to be from Minneapolis/St. Paul, and took cues from the local music scene when he recorded this weird, weird little record. As far as I’m concerned, this J.C.–I can’t speak for the other one–is a little bit richer for it.

    More Jheri Curl Music, both sacred and secular, can be heard in the playlists below:

  • Jheri Curl June: Prime Time’s “Anytime is Prime Time (Theme Song)”

    Jheri Curl June: Prime Time’s “Anytime is Prime Time (Theme Song)”

    In the almost-10 years since we started Jheri Curl June, I’ve learned to keep an eye out in the record store for potential discoveries in the Jheri Curlaverse. Sometimes, this habit pays off–as in the case of 2018 JCJ honoree Georgio. But sometimes, even the most promising-looking record can fail to live up to expectations.

    This was the case when, back home in Michigan two summers ago, I came across Confess It Baby, the 1985 sophomore album by Prime Time. “Promising-looking” didn’t even begin to describe it: Posed in front of the skyline backdrop from a local public access talk show, dressed in the finest selections from the Steve Harvey menswear line, the motley crew assembled on the album cover (see below) looked like they stepped out of a production of Guys and Dolls with a cast comprised entirely by the lineups of the Whispers and DeBarge. This–combined with a tracklist full of suggestive song titles like “What’s That You Slipped Into My Wine,” “Sex-o-logical,” and “Baby Don’t Break My Back“–basically put my expectations through the roof.

    Likely because of these sky-high expectations, I was underwhelmed when I got home and gave Confess It Baby a spin. It isn’t a terrible record, by any means, and certainly not below par for Jheri Curl June; remember, this is coming from someone who counts discovering Georgio as a success. But it was generic enough that I’d all but forgotten about Prime Time until this Jheri Curl June rolled around and I remembered, “Oh yeah, what about that one record by the goofy-ass Whispers/DeBarge knock-offs?”

    All of which is to say, I have good news and bad news about today’s JCJ pick. The bad news is, Confess It Baby isn’t officially streaming, and while we’ve included some YouTube-only tracks in past years, I can’t be bothered doing it for Prime Time. Which brings me to the good news: the group’s 1984 debut album Flying High is streaming, and it’s actually a damn sight better than Confess It Baby.

    Don’t get me wrong, it’s also hilarious. The group shot on the back cover (see above) is almost as goofy as the one on Confess It Baby, except this time the assorted Whispers and DeBarge castoffs are in a production of The Outsiders. Meanwhile, lead singer Jimmy Hamilton kicks off closing track “Anytime is Prime Time (Theme Song)”–yes, Prime Time end their debut album with a song about themselves–by yelling, “What time is it?” as if that catchphrase didn’t already very clearly belong to Morris Day of the Time. But the electro-lite groove and sunny melody ensure that you leave with a smile on your face, even if you don’t have as overdeveloped sense of irony as yours truly.

    Anytime is Prime Time to listen to Prime Time… and the rest of the artists on these playlists:

  • Jheri Curl June: Gwen Guthrie’s “Peanut Butter”

    Jheri Curl June: Gwen Guthrie’s “Peanut Butter”

    As we rapidly approach the 10-year anniversary of Jheri Curl June, one of the most exciting things for me is the thrill of “discovering” an artist who I frankly should have known about already. This year, that artist is Gwen Guthrie: a former back-up vocalist, elementary school teacher (!), and commercial jingle singer from Newark, New Jersey, whose series of 1980s club hits led to her being dubbed the “First Lady” of New York City‘s legendary Paradise Garage.

    Listening to “Peanut Butter,” the opening track from Guthrie’s 1983 album Portrait, it’s easy to see why she earned the title. Like the rest of her first two albums, it’s produced by Sly (Dunbar) and Robbie (Shakespeare)–also known for their work with previous JCJ inductee and all-around badass Grace Jones–and it’s funky as hell, with the Jamaican production duo’s dub influences showing through in the highly percussive groove. Likewise, Guthrie’s sultry vocal and exhortations to “spread yourself over me like peanut butter” feel precision-engineered for the dance floor–particularly in the even dubbier extended club mix by Paradise Garage house DJ Larry Levan.

    I’m not gonna lie–sometimes I worry that we’ve scraped the bottom of the barrel, and that we’ll run out of exciting music to spotlight for Jheri Curl June sooner rather than later. But if after nine years I can still randomly stumble across somebody like Gwen Guthrie, it’s a reminder that there’s still a lot left to learn about and explore.

    Speaking of exploring, remember to check out our playlists! We’ll be back for the second full week of Jheri Curl June 2023 on Monday.

  • Jheri Curl June: Surface’s “Falling in Love”

    Jheri Curl June: Surface’s “Falling in Love”

    For the past nine years, we’ve harped on a lot about the sonic signifiers that make Jheri Curl Music what it is: your clean bass and rhythm guitar, your programmed drums, your layered synths, and so on. But one sound we’ve never had cause to mention is the flute… that is, at least, until now.

    “Falling in Love” was the debut single by the New Jersey-based group Surface: a vehicle for EMI Records staff songwriters David “Pic” Conley and David Townsend, with Conley’s girlfriend, Karen Copeland, on vocals. It is, at first glance, little more than a pleasantly chill midtempo J.C.M. trifle–imagine an S.O.S. Band album track, and you’ve basically got the picture. But then, the flute enters the mix–just a taste at first, then gradually growing in prominence, until all the sudden we’re treated to a full-blown solo. And you know what? It fuckin’ rules.

    I’ll admit, we’re not exactly unbiased when it comes to flute in pop songs. Callie’s other podcast dedicated a whole episode to flute jams; I spent a not-insignificant part of my youth listening to a cassette compilation called Funky Flutes and Sexy Sitars; at least one of us (I won’t say who) spent actual U.S. currency to see Jethro Tull in concert. But the flute adds so much to “Falling in Love,” it kind of begs the question why it wasn’t a more common sound in songs of its genre. Clearly, at least someone at Surface’s record label Salsoul agreed, because the single’s European picture sleeve prominently featured Conley serenading a bemused-looking Copeland with the instrument (see above).

    Unfortunately, “Falling in Love” didn’t kick off a whole new era of woodwind-mania in ’80s R&B. The single made it into the lower reaches of the Billboard R&B chart, peaking at Number 84 in summer 1983; the following year, electro-lite follow-up single “When Your Ex Wants You Back” reached the same position, after which Conley and Copeland broke up, marking the end of the group’s original lineup. Surface would eventually (ahem) resurface in 1986 with a new singer, Bernard Jackson, and a smoother sound heavily indebted to the likes of Babyface. It’s fine–we may even write about Surface Mark II in a future Jheri Curl June–but I think we all know what’s missing. Luckily, the version of “Falling in Love” on streaming services is an extra-long remix by Shep Pettibone, so you can wet your whistle and then some.

    Speaking of streaming, here are those playlists again:

  • Jheri Curl June: D-Train’s “‘D’ Train Theme”

    Jheri Curl June: D-Train’s “‘D’ Train Theme”

    It’s been a while since we last spotlighted James “D-Train” Williams–since 2015, to be exact, when we wrote about Paul Hardcastle‘s 1985 remix of D-Train’s 1981 breakout hit, “You’re the One for Me.” And frankly, that’s too long to go without some Vitamin D–especially now that we know it was Williams who sang the much-more-soulful-than-required hook to the original Pokémon anime’s “Pokérap,” thus completing the weirdest possible Venn diagram of Callie‘s interests and most likely fulfilling an ancient prophecy that will ultimately lead to the apocalypse.

    Unfortunately, the Pokérap does not count as an example of Jheri Curl Music; but 1982’s “‘D’ Train Theme” decidedly does, and folks, it is a banger. Recorded when “D-Train” was not only Williams’ stage name, but also a full-fledged duo comprising the singer and keyboardist/producer Hubert Eaves III, the “Theme” opens with a recorded announcement from the New York subway line, before launching into a nasty bass and drum-machine groove that lays the foundation for a synth hook positively dripping with J.C. juice. The lyrical content is just about what you’d expect–a series of exhortations to “get up on the funky D-Train”–but fans of the aforementioned Pokérap will be excited to hear Williams lay down some capable bars himself. “‘D’ Train Theme” may not teach you the names of the 150 original Pokémon, but it is funky as hell, and really, that’s what matters most.

    You can get on board the funky JC-train with the playlists below; see you tomorrow!

  • Jheri Curl June: Tom Browne’s “Funkin’ for Jamaica”

    Jheri Curl June: Tom Browne’s “Funkin’ for Jamaica”

    Surprise! I know it’s been a minute since we did… anything for Dystopian Dance Party, but the weather’s getting warmer, the days are getting longer, and the sounds of funky synthesizers are echoing in the distance; so we couldn’t resist coming back for another Jheri Curl June.

    For the uninitiated, Jheri Curl June is our annual celebration of a particular strain of wet, silky ’80s R&B that defies all non-hairstyle-related description (and no, we haven’t heard of post-disco… or boogie… or electro-funk… or…). We’ve explained the term several times in the last nine years: in our original 2014 introduction post, a 2016 video, and a 2018 podcast. We know it’s never going to catch on, but damn it, we’re in too deep to stop now.

    Having been at this for almost a decade, as you might imagine, we’ve begun to expand the boundaries of the pseudo-genre we coined, touching on City Pop and even reggae. This year, I think it’s finally time to unleash a new mutation that’s been sitting in my “JCJ ideas” playlist for years: I’m talking, of course, about Jheri Jazz.

    Tom Browne released “Funkin’ for Jamaica (N.Y.)” in July 1980 as the lead single from his second solo album, Love Approach; the song’s irresistible jazz-funk fusion hit Number 1 on the Billboard R&B chart in October, where it remained for three weeks. This puts it more solidly in what we might call the “proto-J.C.M.” category, which is probably why we didn’t feature it until now; for one thing, the lead instrument is Browne’s trumpet, and as we all know, Jheri Curl Music traditionally lacks non-synthetic horns.

    And yet, listening to the airtight groove of “Funkin’” today, it fits right in with our usual fare: particularly the razor-sharp muted rhythm guitar by Bobby Broom and that nasty bassline by a 20-year-old Marcus Miller. And did you catch that Flex-a-Tone straight out of 2017 JCJ honoree “Cutie Pie” by One Way? I rest my case.

    If you want an in-depth look into the story behind the inspiration and recording of “Funkin’,” I highly recommend this excellent article from Wax Poetics. In the meantime, I’ll just say that the music video above is the most concentrated dose of fun I’ve experienced in quite a while; everyone–Browne, Broom, Miller, singer Toni Smith, keyboardist Bernard Wright, and perhaps most of all incessantly mugging drummer Buddy Williams–looks like they’re having the time of their life. Hopefully kicking off the month with this absolute heater will help bring some fun into your life as well.

    Check out our growing Spotify and TIDAL playlists below: