(Translated from my original Italian text by ChatGPT and Piero Scaruffi)
The Anglo-Belgian quintet Lords Of Acid perhaps represented better than any other Belgian group the golden age of techno music. Composed of four producers (mainly Praga Khan, aka Maurice Engelen) and the singer Nathalie Delaet, Lords Of Acid developed an explosive mix of demonic rhythms and messianic vocals, self-irony and vital energy, serving as an antidote for proponents of cold and decadent techno.
The album Lust (Caroline, 1991) caused a stir for its persistent celebration of drug use and fornication, but the real innovation lay in the driving cadences of Take Control and Pump My Body, propelled by cosmic tremors and hallucinatory African-derived polyrhythms.
Dionysian anthems like Rough Sex, The Most Beautiful Girl, and Spacy Bitch rely exclusively on infernal atmospheres, constructed by blending torrential rhythms with careful sampling of symphony orchestras, gospel choirs, orgasmic vocalizations, and electronic dissonances. Within this narrow paradigm, Lords Of Acid manage to craft sounds halfway between the neurotic and the absurd, as in I Sit On Acid (their first single), designed precisely to accompany wild ceremonies of sex and drugs. Turning the dial to full scale, Let's Get High reaches the peak of electro-rhythmic paroxysm.
Even in the equally provocative singles that preceded it (I Sit On Acid, 1989; Hey Ho, 1990; Take Control, 1991), and those that followed (Rough Sex and I Must Increase My Bust, 1992), the ideas abound, attempting to make dazzling and flashy what techno doctrine would otherwise dictate as merely depressing grayness.
With a new singer, Voodoo-U (American, 1994) refined mainly the electronic arrangements, among the most powerful ever heard in European house. Their stereotypical club style triumphs in the slimy funk of the title track, with screaming samples and strong electronic layers. The driving combinations (heavily sampled) of guitars, tribal rhythms, sequencers, rap, and choirstheir trademarkshine in Young Boys. Another specialty is the deafening polyrhythmic storms that fuel the sarcastic tirade of She And Mr Jones (aimed at televangelists) and the hammering, spasmodic, ultra-industrial roar of Special Moments.
The singers always burst forth with almost foxcore energy, shouting their disdain for the taboos and hypocrisies of our era amid ever-intensifying arrangements. This is the boldest and most imaginative techno.
But the frenzied techno jolts are often subordinated to other elements: exuberant synth lines in Do What You Wanna Do, cries peppering the erotic nightmare of Drink My Honey, nursery-like rhymes, infernal guitar riffs, and witch-like screams igniting the sinister, ritualistic atmosphere of Out Comes The Evil. Crab Louse may be the masterpiece: heavy metal lashes, a wall of electronic percussion, hip-hop bursts, vocals alternating rap, lascivious screams, and muezzin-like chants create a cataclysmic sonic effect.
The violence of many tracks suddenly subsides in what is their techno version of novelty, from the parody Mister Machoman (against Hollywood) to the sarcastic rap of Dirty Willy and the reggae pantomime of Marijuana In Your Brain.
Their erotic-psychedelic tornadoes celebrate the quintessence of rave hedonism.
(Original English text by Piero Scaruffi)
Even later in life, the Lords Of Acid continued to play the same music and sing
the same sexually explicit lyrics.
Rubber Doll and Pussy are the singles from the
operetta Our Little Secret (Never, 1997).
But very little inspiration was left on Expand Your Head (1999).
Praga Khan (Maurice Engelen) also relaesed his solo
TwentyFirstCenturySkin (Antler Subway, 1999), with more thumping,
breathless romps (Breakfast In Vegas).
Heaven Is An Orgasm (Never, 2000) is a collection of rarities and
leftovers.
Farstucker (Antler Subway, 2001) continues to poke fun at serious
music.
As long as you don't take them seriously, these clowns achieve what countless
dark-punk and glam-dance musicians have only been boasting about:
a mad fusion of decadence, guitar riff, groove and melody
Bowie fans will blush listening to the candor and catchiness of
Stripper, Rover Take Over and Scrood Bi U.
Fans of dark-punk should check out Dark Lover Rising.
Praga Khan led a new lineup on
Deep Chills (2012) and
Pretty in Kink (2018).
