Hussyclub
San Francisco, California, United States | SELF
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In honor of this year's Pride Month, the Amoeblog is running a series of posts celebrating various aspects of the LGBT community. This one salutes the talented new Bay Area queer electronic-pop duo Hussyclub, comprised of singer Glitterus and producer Critical Akklaim, who recently produced and unveiled the above song and video "Straight Girl." The self-described "San Francisco Dark Pop Fantasy Group" tag this dark fun video, which was directed by the group's singer with cameos from Zoe Bender and East Oakland turf dancers Jeriel Bey, Slow Motion, and Bam Ba of the Architekz fame, as a "3-D 80's Queer Matrix Sex Dance Spectaculum!!!!--about unleashing our truest desire, no matter how 'straight' you appear." Meanwhile they describe Hussyclub as, "a place for everyone to grind; queers, breeders, freqs, straight girls, hopefully simultaneously and wrapped in aluminum foil."
Yesterday, via email, I caught up with the two members of Hussyclub find out more about their unique new group.
Amoeblog: I could only find the "Straight Girl" song/video for Hussyclub. Is there more music available or on the way?
Hussyclub: "Straight Girl" is but the first desperation love-story you'll hear at the Hussyclub. We have songs of porno dreaming, ass smackin, alimony, husband snubbing, and lady loving all coming your way.
Amoeblog: Do you have to wear 3D glasses to fully appreciate the video?
Hussyclub: The 3D Body Motional Capture Footage in our video is pre-morphed pre-porno for your viewing pleasure and was created by visual artist Kiki Seror. But we recommend wearing 3-D glasses all the time because its pervy.
Amoeblog: What kind of feedback has the video and/or song gotten since released a month ago?
Hussyclub: The song has touched San Francisco deep in the glitterus. Many of the super freaks love "Straight Girl" for the beatz, the glitter eyebrows, and the emotional wittery of the song. Many have cried in unison for the conundrum of fallin for the "Straight Girl." Apparently this crush happens every night of the week on Valencia.
Amoeblog: What did the turf dancers think of the finished production?
Hussyclub: They loved it! The Architeckz love a sexy beat and were excited to do something more conceptual and character based. In the video they got to be the competition for Glitterus, vying the the Straight Girl. We had so much more footage of ground breaking 3-D Turf that we're gonna release another video all about their dancing to a Hussyclub remix.
Amoeblog: What are your and your partner Glitterus' musical backgrounds?
Critical Akklaim: Growing up in Hartford CT, I was a glee club/drama/choir kid and then played the viola, marimba, and later the steel pan. My love for vocal expression-singing, rapping, random noise, and impersonations plays a large role in creation of his sound. In 2007, I released an EP called Souls of Rap Folks-And this too shall pass in response to a documentary I saw called Beyond Beats and Rhymes by Bryon Hurt, which deals with the modeling of gender roles and attitudes in modern day hip-hop culture. I am deeply influenced by West African rhythms and drum philosophy, Dancehall, and experimental music theory. Glitterus found her siren voice one summer after graduating from Berkeley with a theater and dance degree. She says she* was rolling around her glitter covered garage listening to Digital Mystiks, and when the music stopped, she just kept singing. When Glit heard my beats, she was inspired to write a whole album about hussies who think about more than just telephones and boyfriends.
Amoeblog: I like your retro electronic style. What instrumentation or production tools do you utilize and who are your personal musical heroes?
Critical Akklaim: I've always been a gear slut, not throwing away any instrument or sound device unless its definitively broken. My favorite hardware includes the Akai 4000 beat sampler, Kurtzweil K2500 synth keyboard, and the Ultra Proteus synth Sound Module. I sample live drums, bass, guitars, percussion, Rhodes, old analog mixers, field sound recordings to clash elements in time and space of the sound. I have a killer falsetto, and love to layer my vocals with Glit's, to bring that early 90's Family Style sound to Hussyclub. I am deeply influenced by Grand Master Flash, Cameo, Prince and the Revolution, and Newcleus. Glitterus is a believer in Kate Bush, Peaches, No Doubt, and Brian Eno.
Amoeblog: Do you have any shows coming up?
Critical Akklaim: Hussyclub is hosting and playing Milk Bar on July 11th at a killer weekly dance party Spilt Milk put on by our darlings Mother Records, along with more shows to be announced this summer in the Bay.
- Amoeba Music
A guarantee: This will be the most San Francisco music video you watch all day.
Put out by a local queer electronic pop group called Hussyclub, "Straight Girl" is a fierce come-on purred by singer Glitterus over an array of synthy '80s beats from producer Critical Akklaim. Targeted at (guess who?) a mythical straight girl, and filmed at S.F.'s CELLspace and Icon Ultra Lounge, the video moves from a sultry club setting to become what we can only describe as a vintage laser three-dimensional porno. There are no explicit parts shown, but there are, you know, motions and things. There's also lots of glitter. And awesome moves from Oakland TURF dancers Jeriel Bey and the Arkitecktz. So, yes, this is dark, sleazy, queer pop, and therefore, it is quite fun. - SF Weekly
Discography
Single Release: STRAIGHT GIRL, May 2012
Video Release: STRAIGHT GIRL, May 2012
Photos
Bio
THE STORY:
It wasn’t the first time Producer-man Critical Akklaim found himself at Little Darlings after a long night of slingin beats. But it was the last.
The Glitterus was wrapped around his lap. One hip thrust and another. A tear rolled down her eye. A wide fake smile, she whispered “I don’t feel anything.” Stung, Critical lifted her from his lap—and saw the glitter on her lashes, the sparkling tears falling from her babydoll eyes. “Baby, this place is a hole. Let me buy you a cheeseburger.”
She obliged and told him all her dreams. She was tired of working the Loin, tired of dick hustlin bullshit that didn’t go anywhere. Glitterus said that she wanted a real stage, a real show—about play and not the pole. Something wild, with soul-- where the boys and girls could come to dance in the mirage of her heart. “Plus,” she said, “I give great mic.”
Critical saw the show of his dreams—his very own Hussy Club, where there’d be no fantasy left unfulfilled, no customer dissatisfied. He’d make a sound—a dark dance pop speaking to the finest era of tapedeck synth, but something deep and dirty that would go with his falsetto. The Glit would tell the story of the le Hussy exquisite with completely original lyrics, and the vox of a siren dementoid.
Glit found her writing influence from Kate Bush, No Doubt, and Brian Eno, and might have learned a thing or two about grinding from The Lusty Lady, Butoh, Peaches, Betty Davis, Dark techno and Dubstep. Akklaim was raised by Prince and the Revolution, Grand Master Flash, The Family, Cameo, and Newcleus and finds inspiration from Dancehall, West African rhythym, hip hop's finest, and his mpc. The Club is not complete without Delialah Jones on keys, Mr. Weldon on bass, and ZIZ on the kit for a banging full sound. 2012 has seen Hussyclub bring the femme sex power to the Queer nightlife scene in Oakland and San Francisco, and to many dance venues Milk Bar, Madrone, Submission, CellSpace, El Rio, The Oasis, and a crazy Stripper Party extravaganza at UC Berkeley. Together, they are the oasis of the true Hussy, the invitation to grind alone on a dancefloor.
**** HUSSYCLUB LP RELEASE DUE MARCH 2013 ****
STRAIGHT GIRL was Hussyclub's first video release in May 2012. The video was conceived and directed by singer Glitterus and produced by Critical Akklaim. The video draws inspiration from the SF camp and drag scene, Butoh dance, Michael Jackson "Rock With You," and Cyberpunk. The 3-D dance scenes were shot by SF experimental video artist Kiki Seror with Hack Kinect laser technology, and required no external light to capture. The breakthrough dance video stars East Oakland founders of the TURF dancing movement Jeriel Bey and the Arkitecktz, and infamous performance artist Zoe Bender as The Straight Girl. The video was shot in the notorious mirror room at Icon Lounge and The Cell Space in SanFucksisco.
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