The tracks aren’t ruined with any dialogue or horny vampire moaning, the only track with vocals is “the Lion and the Cucumber.” Its some satanic chanting by an Troll. Jammy organs, horns, noir electric guitars, and electric piano grooves. This is crazy 70s european soft core Horror porn with fantastic fun music. This isn’t a band name, sadly, but a soundtrack that became more famous than the film. Vampiros Lesbos by Manfred Hübler and Siegfried Schwab I usually slip the first track, which is a bit too wild for me, but I love the rest of the album, Long rambling wild Miles Davis like songs, and the middle is a lovely lounge intermission “Note Blue” with the happiest organ riffs and gentle swinging guitar noodling. “Is there Anybody who Loves my Jesus?” “Think,” “Spy Kiss,” and their iconic song, maybe what they are best known for, the bouncy, repetitive, tempo crescendo orgasm that is Bubblehouse- borrowing a formula from house music but setting it to a playful hip hop beat and sounds almost like a DJ Shadow or RJD2 tune.Īnother fantastic album from them is their most avant garde and Psychedelic: The Dropper. My favorite album is the one I consider to be the most optimistic Shack Man. This band has fans in the Jazz world and the “jam band” scene. If you like Keyboards- this is a list for you, I’m a keyboardophile and this list shows it. Many of these discs were released in the 90s, so they aren’t exactly Modern… but I don’t care, I’m living in the past and loving it. Modern bands who are kicking ass and taking names, continuing the Space age pop tradition. What makes Space Age Pop what it is: NO lyrics, fun and zest in every note and element of the production, and an insistent, hummable melody that is high in the mix played on keyboards and mallet instruments. When I think “lounge,” I think vocals, and imagine a sultry singer leaning on a piano and crooning into a old fashioned microphone. I think elevator music is designed to calm and be unnoticed in the background. I’m just one listener, but I would disagree. Some lump this music together with “elevator” music and lounge. My favorite rendition appears on Space Age Pop Volume 1, recorded by Sid Bass, though a very interesting “free jazz” version is on Ted Kooshian’s Standard Orbit Quartet’s Underdog, and a cool percussion heavy xylophone rendition is on Space Capades from Ultra Lounge recorded by the Bobby Hammack trio.Ĭonductor Gert Jan Blom said that the effect of having a real orchestra play Powerhouse in front of him, with over 20 horns and percussion was “better than sex.” ( Liner notes to Raymond Scott: Chesterfield Arrangements 1937-1938)

The most familiar of these is also perhaps the most iconic space age pop tune of all, “Powerhouse.” This instantly recognizable tune was in countless cartoons at moments of confused frenzy, a confidant character strutting down the street, or scenes of construction or moving conveyor belts. Some of this music resembles music from cartoons, and Carl Stalling (who worked on both Disney’s Merry Melodies and Warner Brother’s Silly Symphonies) even reused music from the Raymond Scott catalog in his compositions for Looney Tunes. Henri Mancini and Dick Hyman would utilize sounds and moods first explored in this thrilling genre to score film. Sometimes jazz standards and classical pieces would be remained in a peppy, optimisitc and playful way, generally cutting intros and solos to keep them tight and snappy.

They were experimenting with putting microphones in cans, the difference between recording close up and far away, microphones hanging from ceilings, moving in the room while the performance was happening. Wikipedia tells us- “Space age pop was inspired by the zeitgeist of those times, an optimism based on the strong post-war economy and technology boom, and excitement about mankind’s early forays into space.” Engineers and composers were pushing the limit and trying to make the home listening experience as dynamic and as exciting as they could. Some of this music was designed to show off the power of new stereo speakers. Space Age Bachelor Pad music, also known as “space age pop” was generally instrumental, happy, and short. I thought I’d write an article this holiday season about some of my favorite albums in the “Space Age Bachelor Pad” genre. Essential additions to an Incredibly Strange Music Collection.

Space age bachelor pad