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 Review archive:  # a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Fan Service - Vixen [Vagary Records - 2012]

“Vixen’” finds James Killick’s (Love Katy & Small Hours projects, and runner of Vagary records) more kinky & sexualized fixed wall noise project tattling the work of big bust loving American sleazy icon Russ Meyer, and in particular the three films in his Vixen’ trilogy- 1968’s Vixen, 1975’s Supervixens & 1979’s Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens.

The set featured three CDR discs which came inside their own separate baggies, and each featured colour reproductions of the films original posters. These three where inside a pink cotton slip sleeve, and the whole thing came in a edition of five copies- I’m reviewing a DVD promo of the set.

On the first disc we have “Vixen”, which is of course is Fan Services tribute to the 1968 film of the same name that told of a bored house wife (Vixen) who lives in a Canadian mountain resort with her naive pilot husband. While he's away flying in tourists, she gets it on with practically everybody including a husband and his wife, and even her biker brother.  The film was a bit more arousing, and less comedic/crazed then Meyers later films- it was also one of the first movies to get MPAA's X rating. The spot on one hour track opens with a four or so minute sample from the movie, which finds Vixen getting down to some women on women fun.  The ‘wall’ slow starts to rise up around the sample, before the sample fades & we’re left with the ‘wall’.  The ‘wall’ on offer here is a mixture of slow rolling  dense juddering low-end noise that’s slowly bayed by crisper electro fed waves of crackle.  The whole thing has quite a soothing, yet edgy/ perverse feel to it, and it stands as one of my favourite moments on this set.

On disc two we have “Supervixens”, which is the projects tribute to the 1975 film of the same name which tells of one Clint Ramsey who has to leave his job working at Martin Bormann's gas station and flee after his wife is murdered by psycho cop Harry Sledge(Charles Napier), who tries to pin the murder on Clint. Crossing America, Clint gets sexually harassed on all sides by various voluptuous ladies.  This was a great & prime Meyer film that mixed comic sexual encounters, with wince inducing violence & genreal Meyer like quirky touches. The  hour long track once again opens with a sample from the movie, & this time it takes in the films heroes comic sexual encounter with a Swedish milk-maid. Once again the ‘wall’ slowly builds up behind the sample with a sort of battering type textural feel- the sample drops out around the three minute mark. The ‘wall’ on offer here is a edgy mix of brutal yet semi comic of  rapid punching-punch-bag like battering that’s swayed & slight bent by  billowing judders, and underfed by crisper jittering static.  Again it’s an most effective ‘wall’, and it nicely captures the feel of the movie.

So last in the set we have disc three, which of course takes in “Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens”, which is themed around the last movie in the Vixen trilogy that appeared in 1979, and this was sadly to be Meyers last proper film. The films revolves around a series of characters in ‘small town America’, and it really is less plot driven & more episodic in it’s feel, as first one character then another has comedic sexual encounters. Once again the movie was a mix of comic sexual encounters, violence(though the blood is replaced with different coloured paint), and typical sort of Meyer quirkiness- the film had it’s effective/ rewarding moments, but on the whole it felt a bit too clichéd in it’s Meyer-ness. Once again the hour long track starts off with a sample from the movie, and this time it details a voluptuous female trying to put a sock on the erect member of a passed out man, so she can use him a live sex doll, this all goes on over comic Mexican music, Spanish female chatter & comic voice over monologues by Stuart Lancaster. The ‘wall’ once more slowly risers over the sample, and by the 4th minute the sample has dropped out & we’re into the ‘wall’.  This ‘wall’ on offer here is rather of the common garden fixed variety, and it just conists of a taunt & tight mixture of churning ‘n’ juddering muffled low end pummelling, which is lined by smaller & crisper uniform lines of static- it’s ok I guess, but it doesn’t really seem to have much to do with the films atmosphere or vibe.  


For the most part this set is most effective in capturing the vibe & feeling of Meyer movies in the HNW context, it’s just a pity that the last disc in the set is a little underwhelming & doesn’t really seem to relate much to the movie it’s meant to be themed around.

Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5

Roger Batty
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