Listening to the opening track
Listening to the opening track from Man Recordings' Não Wave compilation of Brazilian new wave and post-punk, it's easy to believe that in the 1980s, the phaser had the same kind of globalizing power that the snare roll does today. Agentss' "Agentss" plows through gelatinous chords that echo the Cure's Seventeen Seconds or Faith, thanks to the whooshing of the guitar pedal. (Why did people love phasing so much in the '80s? Was it the way it tinges everything smog-colored and slightly seasick that echoed the Reaganomic mood?)
The song is way weirder than just some Cure imitation, though, and not only for the half-spoken/half-yelped lyrics or the C3PO vocoding (funny that Fluxblog heard, instead, R2D2). Just check the Doors-like organ breakdown after the bridge. These cats weren't grey; more like gothadelic, and totally louco.
Comments
1) I really wish that I had written this for the song instead of what I came up with. I'm not happy with that review.
2) Funny that you mention it but I actually DID hear C-3PO in that song! I kinda kept myself from mentioning it, but there's this one bit in the song that reminds me of a specific scene in Empire Strikes Back when Chewbacca is putting him back to together again and you hear him rewind a bit and jabbering before he gets shot, there's a weird distortion on him at one point.
So yeah, R2-D2 and C-3PO.
Posted by: Matthew | May 18, 2005 05:46 PM
totally c3po. i feel like the phasing thing is all about dudes doing the stereo out on their new digital multi-fx, as in, 'wow, if i stand in front of this thing and hit the pedal, it sounds like it's swirling all around' also, maybe it's a way of doing a pick slide without sounding like you're on the warp tour.
Posted by: daphne | May 22, 2005 09:26 PM
Phil, why do you hate America so much?
Your truly,
Charles Fat
Posted by: Anonymous | May 23, 2005 08:29 PM
sorry, but - uh, what?
Posted by: philip | May 23, 2005 09:16 PM
The Phaser needs to make a big comeback, I think. I love how it can turn the "right" sound into silky, gummy goodness.
Posted by: jorge | May 24, 2005 07:30 PM
Speaking as someone who was, ahem, around at the time, phasing really seemed like a novelty. It was cool and new, I think; or, at least, fresh. I think it's held up better than flanging, which displaced it as the 80's wore on.
Posted by: Jonathan Hayes | May 26, 2005 05:47 PM
love the song. love your site, too, just came upon it in the past few weeks.
Posted by: rosa | May 27, 2005 05:31 AM
Check out Soul Jazz's "The Sexual Life of the Savages" - it's much more rockin'.
Posted by: Cameron | May 28, 2005 06:50 PM
Dear Phil,
Please write something new. We are waiting with patience.
Your truly,
Charles Fat
Posted by: Anonymous | May 30, 2005 08:09 PM