Editorial Reviews

The first of four compilations designed to explore what the collators call "the manifold worlds of sound sexualization," HEAVYbreathing Vol. 1, The Sounds of Sex: Bite It!, like the other discs in the series, is less about rigorous organization of songs than a pretty good excuse to throw together a slew of tunes that at their most innocent can be called deeply saucy. The all-over-the-place nature of the compilations is their key appeal, though, feeling like an iPod playlist or mp3 blog entry from someone with the world (and perhaps something else) at their fingertips. So, as with the other discs, it's less the obsessive thematics as it is all the rare, weird, and wonderful numbers that resurface. There's plenty of slinky and sly Europorn lounge music -- Line Renaud's "Sexe" is all cooing vocals, vibes, and muted horn, while the wah-wah and funky keyboards on Rita's "Erotica" are only slightly less lubricious than the vocalist. Exotica in general takes a bow -- consider Chaino & His African Percussion Safari's heavy-breathing "The Jungle Chase," one of the more over the top efforts of the genre's heyday -- while there's some enjoyably trashy rock and blues via Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "Bite It" and John & Jackie's "Little Girl." But not everything is from the musty past: Joy Bamgbola's "Wet Lips," from 2006, is a definite winner, somewhere between early Laurie Anderson and later Warp Records in its blend of vocal structures and snippets, while Sirenée's "Orgasm" is a brisk, acoustic but powerful rocker that might be the best song early PJ Harvey never wrote. Some of the odd one-offs are truly odd -- Erotica's "Bedspring Symphony" posits what happens when bongos are let loose in a scene of interpersonal congress, Jean Seberg's "Hiasmina" features the late cult actress making occasional moans and gasps over more lush Europorn music (all for a song from her 1971 movie Kill!), while Suzie Seacell's "Me and My Vibrator," a '50s-retro-pop number from 1979, is simultaneously a perfect celebration and completely ridiculous. Much like sex itself, appropriately enough. Ned Raggett, All Music Guide

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