Dystopian Dance Party

Tag: kashif

  • Jheri Curl June: Lillo Thomas’ “Sexy Girl”

    Lillo Thomas is something of a renaissance man. Besides being a former world-class sprinter (he qualified for the 1984 Olympics, but was prevented from participating due to a car accident), he is also an actor, painter, and of course, a singer. Thomas provided vocals for several Jheri Curl June veterans including Evelyn “Champagne” King and Kashif. He also worked with Paul Laurence, a Jheri Curl June inductee from earlier this month. In fact, Thomas’ “Sexy Girl”–not to be confused with the 1984 jam by the late Glenn Frey–was cowritten by Laurence.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go5JPaa_1mc

    “Sexy Girl” begins as your standard late-era Jheri Curl song with a thumping, New Jack Swing-esque beat; but the chorus, where Thomas’ vocals reach a soaring falsetto, is where the song really takes off. Unfortunately, “Sexy Girl” is not available on Spotify, and there is no official video, but I did find this vertically-oriented video of a shirtless guy Harlem Shaking to it that will just have to suffice. I think it does:

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  • Jheri Curl June: Stacy Lattisaw’s “Jump Into My Life”

    Danny Brown put me up on Stacy Lattisaw. After hearing him reference her in “Adderall Admiral” and gush about her in his Nardwuar interview (beginning at 5:45 in the video below), I made a point of checking her out and, lo and behold, she is a perfect fit for Jheri Curl June.

    Lattisaw’s most commercially successful period was during her teenage years. By 1986, now only 20 years old, she had signed to Motown and released Take Me All the Way. The album was produced by Kashif and Leon Sylvers III of SOLAR Records, which definitely explains the Jheri Curl sound. “Jump Into My Life,” the second single off the album, is definitely full of late-period Jheri Curl flair with its rhythmic bass and layered synthesizers.

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  • Jheri Curl June: Stevie Wonder’s “Love Light in Flight”

    It’s a well-known fact that most white music critics don’t “get” ’80s Stevie Wonder. And for a long time, I was no exception: I took as gospel the truism that it was all downhill for Stevie after Hotter Than July, and I levied what I considered to be the appropriate amount of scorn on his material from the era. You know that scene in High Fidelity where Barry throws the guy out of the store because he wants to buy “I Just Called to Say I Love You?” That was basically me.

    But with age comes wisdom, and with wisdom comes a less snobby attitude toward popular culture. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I still don’t like “I Just Called to Say I Love You.” But I’m not too proud to say that I love another song from Wonder’s much-reviled 1984 soundtrack to The Woman in Red, “Love Light in Flight”–how could any self-respecting Jheri Curl fan not? Like last week’s song by Kashif, it’s a stellar example of the new subgenre I pulled out of my ass called “sophisticurl”: you can picture it being played at a yacht party, with discreetly jheri-curled attendees wearing Coogi sweaters and clinking their champagne glasses. It’s genteel, but indelibly funky: a vibe that Stevie Wonder nailed effortlessly in his middle years. And it doesn’t even require an appreciation of poorly-aged Gene Wilder comedies to enjoy!

    See you tomorrow for more Jheri Curl June. Spotify and YouTube playlists below.

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  • Jheri Curl June: Kashif’s “Ooh Love”

    Last month, we recorded our annual Memorial Day podcast, a budding tradition in which we commemorate (and lightly mock) many of the important musical artists we’ve lost since the previous May. And this time, one of those artists was especially bittersweet: former B.T. Express keyboardist, producer, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and dope-moustache-haver Kashif. As I said on the podcast, he’s someone we’d wanted to spotlight for a long time–and we did, sort of, with our 2014 post on one of his finest productions, Evelyn “Champagne” King’s effervescent “Love Come Down.” But now that we’ve finally got around to covering his solo work, he’s no longer here to appreciate and/or be mildly offended by it.

    Kashif’s music tends to lie on the smoother, more refined end of the JCM spectrum–call it sophisticurl. His 1984 album Send Me Your Love, from which today’s selection is taken, features contributions by Whitney Houston and Kenny G (and Al Jarreau, another recent passing we commemorated in last month’s podcast). For our purposes, though, we’ll go with one of the more club-friendly tracks: “Ooh Love,” which combines everything we love about vintage Jheri Curl–programmed drums, ultra-wet guitar, bubbling synth-bass–with one of Kashif’s most passionate vocal performances. Granted, it still pairs better with a fine wine than, say, cognac, but that just makes it respectable. This is Jheri Curl Music for the grown and sexy set. As-salāmu ʿalaykum, Kashif.

    We’ll be back next week with more Jheri Curl June–playlists below!

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  • Dystopian Listening Party Podcast: Memorial Day, 2016-2017

    Well, here we are: for the second consecutive year, we’re turning Memorial Day weekend into a time of remembrance for the many great artists we lost since last May. But because this is still Dystopian Dance Party, and we’re constitutionally incapable of being reverent for more than a few minutes at a time, please be aware that the resulting podcast is about 70% wake, 30% roast (well, maybe 60/40). Just believe us when we tell you it’s all coming from a place of love. Hopefully, while everyone good continues to die and leave us trapped on this smoldering husk of a planet, we can at least entertain you (and ourselves) with our impressions of “The Force M.D.’s Meet the Fat Boys”… R.I.P. to Trisco Pearson. Show notes below.

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