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"CAJMERE / GREEN VELVET"
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They’ve been talking about Green Velvet over in England. Oh, have they been
talking. Here is just a small sampling of comments from across the pond
about the music of Green Velvet, the Chicago-born DJ and techno master whose
self-titled debut album for Warner Bros. promises to be one of the new millennium’s
first genuinely intriguing releases:
“One of the truly original voices in contemporary dance music.”
“Techno with its insides twisted on a perpetual groove.”
“The dirtiest sounding house music... underlined with surreal stream-of-consciousness
meditations.”
“A post-moral void that’s beyond good and evil, beyond emotions.”
“A modern, noir-ish series of techno tableaux that will slam on the dancefloor
and infect the collective consciousness.”
“A perfect amalgamation of conformity and madness. An insane melting pot
of highly-sexed, mind-bending tracks that leave you wondering about the
mental health of Mr. Velvet.”
“Rocks harder than Mick Jagger’s pants.”
We could go on, but you get the general idea. Green Velvet, the artist and
the album, are unlike anything you’re likely to have heard before. Unless,
that is, your daily musical intake includes a series of ruminations on such
matters as alien abduction (“Abduction”), reincarnation in the form of H20
(“Water Molecule”), and an account of the most depressing and outrageous
telephone messages you can imagine (“Answering Machine”), most delivered
in a deadpan monotone and all layered over irresistibly hypnotic dance grooves.
The Green Velvet story began in 1968, when Curtis Jones, son of an electronic
engineer (his dad) and a dietician (his mom), was born in Chicago. Discussing
his childhood, Curtis said, “I guess you could say I’ve always been sorta
weird. I think my parents thought I was smart.” Smart enough, in fact, to
send him to the University of Illinois to study chemical engineering, followed
by a year of graduate study in that same field at Berkeley.
But there was music as well as chemicals (so to speak) in young Curtis’
blood. His father was an occasional DJ, playing blues and funk, which is
how Curtis first heard such major influences as Sly Stone and George Clinton.
Curtis himself began studying saxophone while still in elementary school.
Later, while in college, he fell under the spell of the house music that
was becoming popular in the ‘80s and the influence of such electronic music
pioneers as Kraftwerk, Ministry, and Liaisons Dangereuses. Once the music
bug bit, that was about it for his studies. “It was pretty obvious to me
that (chemical engineering) was not my calling,” Curtis recalled. “The work
was dull and conventional, and I got the chills when I thought about doing
that for the rest of my life... So I saved up the money I made from the
summer internships I had with companies who were sponsoring my scholarships
and bought some equipment –- a keyboard, a mixer, and a drum machine, $90
in all.”
Calling himself Cajmere (that’s CAJ, as in Curtis A. Jones), Curtis released
an EP called Underground Goodies in 1991, followed by the “Brighter Days”
single on his own Cajual Records label in ’92. A year later he started another
label, calling this one Relief and earmarking it for his more techno-influenced
projects. (Both labels are currently in what Curtis described as “a state
of dormancy,” but he plans to revive them eventually.)
Green Velvet was conceived as a harder alternative to the more house-oriented
Cajmere and began in ’93. As for the name, “that came from my ex-girlfriend’s
father. He used to make fun of Cajmere, ‘cause he thought it was a funny
name. So then he used to take it to another level and call me Green Velvet,
‘cause that was even more ridiculous.” Not so coincidentally, it also describes
both the texture and color of the skin of the aliens who dally with out
hero on the aforementioned “Abduction” track.
All in all, this album is a fitting introduction to the work of a fellow
who’ll gladly describe himself as “a cross between Sly Stone, Grace Jones,
and David Bowie,” and whose music will not only make you move but laugh,
no small feat these days.
Of course, to enjoy the complete Green Velvet experience, he needs to be
seen live. “I love performing tracks for those who feel that my music makes
the constant chaos in life more tolerable,” Curtis has said, and fans and
reviewers alike have reacted in kind.
“Green Velvet live is an unforgettable experience,” wrote one British critic,
referring only in part to Jones’ somewhat unusual appearance (swimming goggles,
day-glo green mesh cones glued to his scalp, green velvet trousers...).
“Curtis Jones becomes possessed with a supernatural manic energy, using
his headphones as a vocoder, dancing, cackling, inciting the crowd... He’s
not afraid of debunking the seriousness of techno via comic cabaret and
widening its parameters to include a whole spectrum of kooks and eccentrics.”
You too can be a kook or an eccentric. Listen to Green Velvet and you’ll
be well on your way. |
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