ZE SHOP

CULT CLASSIC 

By the end of the seventies Bob Blank was one of the original respected young Disco producers of N.Y.C. Opening the famed Blank Tape Studios in New York in 1976 and producing hit records (with his wife Lola a former performer with the James Brown revue) such as "Over Like A Fat Rat" by Fonda Rae. Blank tape was ZE records favorite studio. Bob was going to records there some of the best No vave and Mutant disco albums. First efforts by Kid Creole & the Coconuts, Lizzy Mercier Descloux, James White & the Blacks, Lydia Lunch, The Contortions, Cristina, Garçons, Casino Music, everyone was recording at Blank Tapes Studios, with Bob as chief engineer or sometime co-producer.

(Lydia Lunch‘s “Queen of Siam”). By 1978 Bob never stop working, going to Sun Ra's “Lanquitidy” sessions to any of ZE records artist first recording sessions which may explain a lot. Aural Exciters was Bob’s afterhours party record. Everyboby was invited including James Chance on sax, Pat Place from the Contortions on Guitar, Lizzy Mercier Descloux, August Darnell & Andy “Coati mundi” Hernandez from Kid Creole, Adriana from the Coconuts, Ron Rogers, and all the N.Y best sessions musicians around... Perhaps more than any other Mutant Disco artifact, the Aural Exciters's record features a special spider's web of links and lineages. Besides, the aforementioned August Darnell connections, who also was one of Aural Exciters’s main composer, the gang featured Taana Gardner, who later sang on Heartbeat, her awesome West End disco classic. Most of the girls you could find on any Prelude records, like Chris Wiltshire were also invited to the party. August Darnell even used Aural Exciters for experimantation on various material to be founded on futur Kid creole’s albums. Songs like : Mr. Softee, Gina, Gina, Maladie d’amour, Broadway rythm, were first recorded by Aural Exciters. August also wrote the avant garde «Emile (Night Rate) », which was downbeat dub disco ten years before Massive Attack. Not to mention the evident wink to Amyl nitrate wellknown by poppers’s fans. Cults Classic Dancefloor : Emile (night rate),

Maladie d’amour, Spooks in space and Marathon runner, were remastered from original analogue masters and reissued on 12” maxi vinyl single with original sleeve cover.