This is going to be the post where I date myself (I don’t mean dinner for one at my favorite vegan restaurant, not having to share my snuck-in Twizzlers at the local family-run movie theater, and dessert back at my place…wink, wink) and take you all the way back to the 80’s. That’s when electronic music really thrived, and supposedly.me’s debut album Affirmative is like a DeLorean ride back in time. In the 80’s, in my gay opinion, electronic music fell into 3 categories:
#1: Drilling Time – I remember dreading going to the dentist as a kid, hell I still do. Sure there was the bubble gum flavored fluoride, the toothbrush, and a sticker at the end but that didn’t make up for all the implements of torture, the antiseptic smell, or the piped in electronic music. The music needed to be soothing which “Lumpish” is with it’s quiet start and speeded up Polkaesque beat, there’s a melodic space age groove on “Make Like A Tree”, and “Wisftul” is light and cheery. All would mellow your groove as you came down off the laughing gas.
#2: Don’s Johnson – The 80’s had some electronic songs hit the pop charts, I still remember the dancing robot legs in Herbie Hancock’s “Rockit” music video. So when I hear “Skies” I think of the Vangelis theme from Chariots Of Fire, “Iowa” is much more Miami to me (as in Miami Vice), and “Affirmative” sounds like something I would’ve heard in a cheezy slasher flick hosted by Elvira.
#3: Joy Stick – The ultimate throw back for me is to my first love, my Atari 2600. I remember sitting on the shag carpet in the living room blowing dust out of the game cartridges and grasping my joystick in my sweaty little palms. Forget nurture or nature, I think Atari made me gay. “Ponilon” could have been playing while I was trying to find the key in Adventure, I could be swinging over alligators in Pitfall to “Fawfell”, or kicking Donkey Kong’s ass to “Utsugo.”
Is electronic music your style of music to play your video games to? Coming down off a high, natural or otherwise? Need a soundtrack for your date night alone? If you answered Affirmative to any of these questions, then this is the album for you.
