Rick James Dwells In The Abyss

Steve Cobby's album from last year, Hemidemisemiquaver, was chock full of electronic delights. One of them was this inspired electro plus vocal sample tribute (of kinds) to Rick James. There's a killer guitar solo in there too. Steve's made a video for it, having gone slightly mad with a Spirograph app (created by Nathan Friend)- it will hypnotise you if you stare at it for too long.



Rick James started out in LA playing bass in a handful of short lived bands including one called Salt, Pepper And Cocaine. Prior to this he had played with some future members of Buffalo Springfield and had also fled to Canada to avoid the draft during the Vietnam War. His solo career took off on  Motown in the 70s and into the 80s, with songs such as Mary Jane and his hit Super Freak. Rick James, as the vocal sample says, dwells in the abyss and by the 90s deep into the abyss was where he was- rampant cocaine use and a conviction for sexual assault which led to 2 years in prison. After his mother died, Rick said he went even further, “there was nothing to keep me from descending into the lowest level of hell. That meant orgies. That meant sado-masochism. That even meant bestiality.” Rick James dwells in the abyss.