Sam Rosenthal's Black Tape for a Blue Girl are a seminal group. Thanks to Sam's label (Projekt) they've become bound to the "darkwave" subgenre. And the cover for their new "Quadranotics" EP, which features a beautiful naked, pale woman arising from cold, white nothingness, seems to imply that we're in traditional territory for the band.
We are not.
As the first track (an intrepretation of As One Aflame Laid Bare by Desire’s “Tell Me You’ve Taken Another”) illustrates Sam has reinvented and reinvigorated his band. This piece recalls nothing so much as the 70's pervy pop of no less a luminary than Serge Gainsbourg. It's infused with an easy listening depravity that may be shocking to some, arousing to others.
You see, it's not the front cover of this CD that we should be paying attention to, it's the back. On the backside we find the image of a woman ( also undressed) on her elbows and knees wearing an appliance somewhere between a unicorn's horn and a dunce cap. It is both sexy and *strange*.
This is the new world of the new Black Tape for a Blue Girl, beyond merely sexy into the realm of the kinky/pervy. And it is a new Black Tape for a Blue Girl. Rosenthal has convened a new group featuring members of Dresden Dolls, Spahn Ranch and Attrition. These are dirty stories set to music...
As always it's the music that keeps me hooked. Four different songs, four different styles. After the sleazy listening (with a touch of indie pop) of the first track with its tale of gleeful cuckolding we move onto "Inch Worm". This number brings Sam's recent love of dark cabaret to the front with a nice Weimar era roll to the back beat. There's serious desire and longing echoing here.
Track three, "Sailor Boy", really reveals the influence of Brian Viglione. There is clearly rock to be found in this song... but its rock as filtered through Nick Cave or Tom Waits. Gritty, filthy/raunchy... it addresses the age old question of who actually holds the power in a Dom/Sub relationship.
Finally "Caught by a Stranger" is lovely, coming within a hair's breadth of operatic folk. This tack makes the song that much more seductive when conveying the narrator's plea for exhibitionist explorations.
Obviously "Quadranotics" is a apéritif for the upcoming "10 Neurotics" full length. But isn't that what all singles are suppose to do? To whet our appetites and help us get a bit of a buzz on before the banquet begins?
My curiousity and palate are piqued. Bring on the decadent main course.
