Dystopian Dance Party

Tag: steve arrington

  • Jheri Curl June: Steve Arrington’s “What Do You Want from Me”

    Jheri Curl June: Steve Arrington’s “What Do You Want from Me”

    We have long extolled the virtues of both Steve Arrington‘s actual Jheri curl and his Ohio-grown bouncy funk in relation to the three–time JCJ-inducted band Slave. However, not only could I easily put Arrington on the playlist every single year, but this year, I specifically wanted to give attention to his second group, Steve Arrington’s Hall of Fame, with this 1984 jam, “What Do You Want from Me.”

    Released the same year Arrington converted to Christianity (he would later become a licensed minister), this is a love song, but on closer listen also sounds like it could be a gospel song about serving Christ. At least the first verse does; then it devolves into moaning and talking about making love. But for my money, this song has a lot of the same love/sex/god themes that Prince was working with throughout his career, though with a lot less angst. It radiates so much warmth that it could only be on an album called Positive Power. I mean, just look at that beautiful backlit curl! It’s enough to make anyone a believer!

    And with that, Steve Arrington’s Hall of Fame has officially entered the JCJ (and just plain J.C.) hall of fame. As always, playlists are below:

  • Jheri Curl June: Slave’s “Turn You Out (In & Out)”

    We’ve featured Slave before for Jheri Curl June, but their 1983 album Bad Enuff is the group at their most activated. By 1983, the sound of ’80s R&B had fully transitioned from leftover disco to what we all know and love as Jheri Curl Music, thanks to Prince’s Minneapolis sound taking off. Slave followed suit, though their sound had already changed slightly due to drummer and singer Steve Arrington leaving the group in 1982.

    Although post-Arrington Slave is not nearly as formidable as their earlier releases, Bad Enuff is a solid album, proving that Slave could adapt to changing times and a changing lineup. “Turn You Out (In & Out)” is arguably one of their sexiest songs, combining one of Mark Adams’ signature below-the-belt-hitting basslines with a prissy Prince-like synth riff and breathy vocals practically lifted from a Dirty Mind outtake.

    We’ll be back tomorrow with more Jheri Curl June. Spotify and YouTube playlists are below:

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  • Dystopian New Year’s Party Podcast: Our Favorite Songs of 2015

    Well, here we are, at the cusp of the New Year: that sacred time when bloggers from all over congregate for one last chance to opine about the pop culture year that was. And we’re no exception–even though, as we note in the introduction, we’re barely up for the task, having spent most of 2015 listening to the same Ying Yang Twins records we’d been listening to since 2005. But what is pop-culture blogging, anyway, if not the chance to exercise one’s self-appointed, mostly illusory authority on an unwilling and mostly uncaring audience?

    I originally wanted this inaugural year-in-review podcast to include multiple forms of media, but quite frankly we’re even worse at keeping up with film, television, et. al. than we are at keeping up with music; and besides, seeing as music is 90% of what we write about on Dystopian Dance Party, it kind of makes more sense this way. So here, without further ado, are our favorite songs of 2015. Settle in, because this one’s gonna be even longer and more self-indulgent than usual!

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  • Jheri Curl June: Slave’s “Watching You”

    While jheri curl music is most often associated with the Minneapolis Sound, the Ohio funk scene can definitely be cited as another important influence. Ohio was a hotbed for funk music in the 1970s: Bootsy Collins, the Ohio Players, Zapp, the Isley Brothers, the O’Jays, and many others. But one of the lesser-known, and highly underrated, bands that came out of Ohio during this era was Slave. Sure, their musical evolution more or less followed the run-of-the-mill trail from hardcore, horn-heavy funk to disco-influenced funk, to a (sort of) mellower R&B funk, and of course, to the synthesizer-heavy sound of the mid-’80s. But Slave managed to develop their own, super-funky, inimitable style even while sticking with the status quo, and they are one of my personal favorites.

    By 1980, Slave, though still sounding very much like a ’70s funk outfit, had embraced a sleeker, more melodic sound. In “Watching You,” from their 1980 album Stone Jam, the hard-hitting horn section had been replaced with a doodling synthesizer riff. This, along with bassist Mark Adams’ signature heavy slap bass line at the forefront of the mix, makes this a very smooth, funky early jheri-curl groove.

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