05 January 2008

"magic carpet ride" || bardeux || 1987


Alright, I'll admit it: I'm having a love affair with Hi NRG music, and what's worse; I'm emotionally attached. I often think about it before I go to sleep at night, or while I'm on a long car ride. Sometimes I think about its absence from today's music scene and I have to watch Seinfeld reruns to make myself feel better.

Okay, so it's ot quite that extreme, but you get the point. I love the stuff. It's my favorite style of electronic music. The structure of the beat in Hi NRG is what I find so fascinating. If you listen closely, you'll hear two distinct rhythms to which you can dance: a quicker, "high energy" beat (if you shake every beat, on the beat), and a slower, sexier groove (if you shake every other beat). That subtle amalgam of dancing and sexual energy is sublime.

Bardeux were more than two pretty faces; they were two extremely sexy faces. Actually, by the time they broke up, they were a total of four sexy faces. Stacy "Acacia" Smith (the blonde) was the only one who remained with the group through both of their albums. Her first partner in the duo was Tairrie B., who sang only on the single "Three-Time Lover" before leaving the group (in what would eventually surface as not-so-good terms) and pursuing other musical interests. Lisa "Jaz" Teaney then stepped in and sang the rest of the tracks on Bold As Love with Acacia. For Bardeux's second album, 1990's Shangri-La, Acacia sang with Melanie Taylor.

Acacia continued working as a producer of dance music into the 1990's. Tairrie B. went on to record a gangsta hip-hop album called The Power Of A Woman, on which there appears a track called "Ruthless Bitch." In the song, she takes several shots at both Acacia and Jon St. James, the group's producer (and a member of SSQ). She then fronted the hardcore death metal band Manhole / Tura Satana and is currently the lead singer (if you can call it that) of My Ruin. Jaz faded into complete obscurity, and Melanie Taylor appeared in liner notes as a vocalist as recent as 2001.

Bold As Love and, more importantly, today's track represent Bardeux as they were at their prime. They're youthful, extremely attractive, full of energy, and offering an irresistible dance floor invitation. Watching the clip below will give you a window into what it looks like to HAVE FUN making music.

Listen to it here.

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