Repress!

Dark Entries is pleased to announce a deluxe reissue of Sexual Harrassment’s 1983 opus I Need A Freak. Lynn Tolliver, DJ/Program Director at Cleveland’s WZAK, adopted the pseudonym David Payton in order to keep his musical endeavors separate from his public persona. Sexual Harrassment (misspelled deliberately) was formed as a concept band, with members selected based on appearance and choreographic skill rather than musical ability. Tolliver’s explicit lyrics focused on the central themes of desire and sexual relations. Working at a studio in Akron, he recorded an album of quirky-yet-lurid electro funk, which was released on Heat Records. Tolliver remarks, “I learned as a youngster, sex sells! The things that are rated the worst – violence, horror and sex – are the things people want to see or hear about.” I Need a Freak was a surprise hit, selling over 100,000 copies.

I Need A Freak is presented here for the first time on double LP, pressed at 45 rpm for maximum DJ-friendliness. While the album’s naughtier moments seem quaint by contemporary standards, the fusion of lo-fi funk and disaffected vocals still stuns today. On the eternal electro-raunch anthem “I Need a Freak”, minimalism serves to highlight the lasciviousness of the deadpan lyrics, which were inspired by Lourdes Figueroa, Tolliver’s girlfriend at the time. Tolliver’s whimsy shines on tracks like “If I Gave You a Party” and “K.I.S.S.I.N.G.”, which contrast nursery rhyme structures with decidedly R-rated lyrics. “Exercise Your Ass Off” lampoons the home exercise craze, but with a more-than-suggestive sexual bent. Also included are two bonus cuts, “We Want Prince” and “These Are The Things That I Like”, previously released as singles in 1984 and 1986, respectively. “We Want Prince” is both a homage to the Purple one and a gentle satire of obsessive fandom.

I Need A Freak has been remastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios. The album comes in a gatefold sleeve featuring the original artwork. Included are lyrics, photos, and liner notes by Lynn Tolliver and drummer Dale Jackson. Tolliver’s sly provacateurship is best captured by the quote: “It’s funny – without sex, mankind is dead, yet we hide the very thing we need.” More

Death Comet Crew returns into the middle of an African street taxi jam.??Shimmering traffic moves slowly ahead, shadows replacing shadows across the asphalt. ?There is smoke in the sky and in the street.?Basslines pulse and weave through the jam.??[Waves of heat through crack in window seen through infrared heat-vision from overhead.]??Running down the left field of view, chrome flickers in slo-mo.?License numbers crawl.?A persistent scratching takes hold of the car’s horn, indicators on perpetual loop. ?Through the haze, lightning… Galacticoast Mosi. ??Up the well, the half dark space station hangs in lower orbit.? Hybridized chimes ricochet past the main hall’s shuttered shop fronts.?Ricochets turn to echoes, like misplaced dimensions.?7-4-3-1.? The call and response of radio comms.?Acrophonics re-interpreted by a hieroglyphic being. ??Re-membered trajectories.??Re-entry. Death Comet Crew history:? ?1984 — started as Arena Sex Death, then Death Star Crew, ultimately Death Comet Crew. Went on to record ‘Exterior Street’ and ‘At the Marble Bar’ for the Beggars Banquet EP. The group was joined by MC The Rammellzee.?2003 — Death Comet Crew reissued DCC America on Troubleman.?2005 — group reforms and begins playing out again: Venice Bienalle, Serralves Foundation Porto, Berlin, The Worm Rotterdam, Ghent, Toulouse, Tokyo Club Unit, Osaka, CMJ.?2013 — EP of new material on Citinite, followed by an album on Diagonal Records. Members:??Stuart Argabright — also in Ike Yard and Black Rain?Michael Diekmann — also in Ike Yard?Shinichi Shimokawa — also in Black Rain?DJ High Priest aka Nick Taylor — from Gray (the band which included Michael Holman and Jean-Michel Basquiat)

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