Obscurer with Paul Smith

Hi fans!

I realise a lot of my recent columns have been a bit ‘Paul-centric’ so for this week’s trip down memory lane I am going to keep myself well out of it and just go on about the tune.

This week’s Obscurer track is ‘Private Party’ by Bobby Nunn. Way back in the day, before the standard response became a smack in the face, one could stroll into a record emporium, bark “Funk!” at the attendant and expect to be handed several of Bobby’s fine vinyls. This is the best.

A taut mass of bass and synth, ‘Private Party’ exemplifies a style of music from which, amongst others, Beck Hansen (aka Beck) would later draw inspiration for his 1999 party funk odyssey, ’Midnite Vultures’. In its high-pitched synth stabs and lyrical invitations to a ‘private party…just me and you’ one can also hear the tune’s influence on Chromeo, in particular their fantastic track ‘Fancy Footwork’.

Ultimately, Maximo Park is a funk band. We take just as much inspiration from the party spirit embedded within each of these records as we do the dark desolation at the heart of, say, Joy Division’s work. This causes some schizophrenia. In partying terms, we are a bit like the person who dances for half an hour before sitting in the corner crying for ages.

At the end of ‘Private Party’, a woman starts to make a sound that is a bit like crying, but not quite. It isn’t really a laugh either, although it’s close. Whatever she is doing, I have never heard a woman make that noise, and because it was in the past, we may never know what was wrong with her. How depressing.

Bye kids!

Paul
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