Cyborgasm (NSFW)
Remember the 90's? That fun weird time where it seemed that anything was possible. When taboos went mainstream and it was everything goes? Well maybe it wasn't so far out. I think prior decades went there but alternative lifestyles definitely went mainstream and things that were so hard to talk about suddenly came out in the open. This album came out in 1993 and I first heard it in either late '94 or early '95. I heard this with friends and there's nothing that can turn a group of people uncomfortable like the soothing sounds of hot realistic stereo surround sex. Remember when everything was supposed to be interactive in the 90's? I think that's part of how this was born. Cyborgasm: XXX Erotica in 3-D Sound covers many sexual situations including foreplay, live sex (man/woman and woman/woman), orgies, cunilingus as well as spoken word erotic poetry, shaving, daddy issues, and a wide variety of subjects. Overall it's really well produced and if you have a good stereo the effect is definitely arousing. It's geared more toward woman on man and woman on woman. I'm not sure how hot this might be for gay men. It's very respectful though in regards to how realistic it is without any fanfare or schlock. Tasteful is a word that comes to mind. If you're terrified of talking about sex with others or do not like the mention of the subject then this may seem rather tasteless.
The album was produced by Lisa Palac who has written for the LA Times and has been a featured sexpert on documentaries and programs such as Synthetic Pleasures, Sexcetera, Pornography: A Secret History of Civilization, and Love Machine. She also wrote the book THE Edge of the Bed. Oh, and she was apparently on an episode of Taxi Cab Confessions.
This album reminds me of a certain period of time. A time when people were reading The Celestine Prophecies, Terrence McKenna was a hot topic, the SCHWA Corporation was propogating the alien invasion, Nag Champa and patchouli oil sales were up, J. R. Bob Dobbs was everywhere, herbal X was prevalent, trance and tribal was all over the place, people were getting tongue piercings and tattoos, women were running with the wolves more often, Hale Bopp was on its way, Mondo 2000 was on the shelves, and technology was the future that was going to save it all. Okay that was a bit long winded but a lot of shit happend in the 90's that I think people gloss over sometimes. Especially in subculture.
The album features the talents of Susie Bright, Mistress Kat, Diana Trimble, Carrington McDuffie, Don Bajemba, Bunny Buckskin, Jon Bailiff, Bronk Syventz and Wendy, Annie Sprinkle, Jubal Grante, Tom O'Mara, Saro, Belle, and music by Machine, Evan Sornstein, Anthony Fisher, and The Tiny Bubbles Orchestra.
On another note if you do get the chance I highly recommend watching Synthetic Pleasures. It's everything about the 90's subculture I remember. It was released by Caipirinha Productions in '96. Besides the film being an awesome documentary (with a sub-star studded cast) it had an awesome soundtrack as well. Caipirinha also put out many cool albums by artists such as Terre Thaemlitz, Prototype 909, Si Begg, Tetsu Inoue and many more. Check em out!
If you want to see the orignal Wired review of this album from 1993 it is HERE. Wired was some cool shit back then.
On yet another note I picked the song above because it is the most song-like and it reminds me of Pink Floyd's song "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" from Atom Heart Mother. Mostly for the abstract conversational bits. :)
Locating MOG account...
Comments (11)
well i guess ill say it. you got big bawls sam. big bawls. ;)
Nice. Although it's been some time since I've seen either of them, I happen to know Lisa Palac and Diana Trimble well enough to exchange pleasantries whenever we encounter one another. Such smart and lovely women. Glad you're bringing somewhat belated attention to the project, fist.
not sure where this fits for me
Sam - Thx. I had to do it. It's a cool album.
Mike - I'm just bringing it in the world yet again. I've been sitting on this post for a while now. Plus I've heard a lot of kids in their 20's say that they want to hear about albums prior to 2000. How cool you know those two people. On a side note I just imagined what blogging would like if we had it in 1993 and I think I had a petit mal seizure. :)
earthman - file under random and sex.
word. and yes, Wired was cool shit back then! my favorite Wired quote that i still remember and which i think is so Nineties is "The future is in Beta" or something like that, which appeared in an anniversary issue.
i was keeping an eye out for Synthetic Pleasures for a time but just never found it. maybe i will now, what with so much more goodies on the internet. thanks, Sam, awesome post.
Hey no problem. "The Future is in Beta" is crazy awesome. I bought Synthetic Pleasures sometime in the late 90's. I found a copy at a video store in Richmond, VA around 2002. Haven't seen it since though and I gave mine to someone. It's like a watching Wired. Old Wired and not new Wired.
Thanks for the stroll down mamory lane! I remember a Mondo 2000 interview with The Digital Underground talking about the theory behind their song/album "Sex Packets". This totally would fit with all your dead on refferences.
Great post, definitely one to keep quiet until the kids are asleep!
Mmm Digital Underground. Reminds me of that craptacular movie Nothing But Trouble with Dan Akroyd. I miss Mondo 2000. That was a good magazine. Reminds me that I never did find a copy of R.U. Sirius's Mondo Vanilli album. I heard bits on his podcast but I really need to track down the whole thing.
I immediately recognized the picture. I’m pretty sure it was a cassette with only the upper left quadrant of this picture on the front. I’m sure the thrift store or library book sale people didn’t look too closely at it. I put maybe one or two cuts on headphones and freaked straight out. I hid the thing from the kids so well I’ve never found it again. You mentioned “daddy issues”. So this is the one with the girl and father? Talk about “uncomfortable”! Especially on headphones with the realistic stereo sound.
Maybe I'd better find that cassette. One is being offered on Amazon.com for $101.70. (CD for considerably less.) Here's a comment from that listing.
I co-produced both Cyborgasm 1 and 2 albums with Lisa Palac in 1991-93, during the years when we thought Virtual Reality was going to change the world. Our goal was to produce the worlds first XXX -3D - CD. The audio recording technology we used, which I dubbed "Virtual Audio", was a digitally enhanced binaural mic technique. As with other binaural recordings, playback was intended to be over headphones. It says so on the CD packaging. Playing these albums over regular speakers will just sound like crappy quality stereo... slightly blurry and hollow... the equivablent of watching a 3-D movie without the 3-D glasses on. Remember to put this album into the proper time context... we made it 8 years before "Sex in the City" helped to change mainstream attitudes toward women's sexual empowerment. It was also a time when sexual attitudes had been traumatized in the aftermath of AIDS epidemic. Our goal was to produce an innovative recording that was equal parts erotic, funny, smart, campy, sexually explicit and gender balanced - intended to be listened to in the dark, in a quiet place and to appeal to both women and men. So take it for what it is... a piece of erotica history... with attitudes that represent the era it was recorded. But I gotta say, even today, the Virtual Audio emersive 3-D effect will blow you away if you listen to it on a good pair of headphones with your eyes closed.
Hey Spike that is some awesome extra added bonus to the post. Thanks! I need some decent headphones. It does sound great on the stereo though. Yeah the talk with the girl and guy (father?) with some serious mental hang ups. Great album. The second one is good too.