Good chronic does interesting things to people. My friend Greg is manic, distracted, unable to focus on the Discovery Channel and wanting to talk (endlessly) about what direction to go with his next album of clever dance-rap songs. I, on the other hand, have slid halfway down the couch, dopily playing chords on his keyboard. “Guy. Sex jams. Totally sex jams.” “No,” he snaps. “Good sex music is too hard to do.”
Fair enough. So when sex music actually succeeds, it's extra-special. In the tradition of Elysian Fields, Handsome Boy Modeling School and Massive Attack, Coto Normal uses languid red-wine vocals and smoky, spare beats for a jazzy soundtrack to a thousand hopeful make-outs. Still, the music would be totally at home flowing through the speakers at Urban Outfitters, thanks to the familiar electro beats that guide modern lounge. Maybe it's a little cheesy, and maybe it's a little embarrassing, but can't the same be said for actual sexing? If not, you've probably never mentally rehashed it the morning after, have you?
Even if very brief remembrances of electronica get your gag impulse pumping like the brakes in a spinning car, Coto Normal is smart enough to only dabble in the sleazier sounds of comedown music. Their song “Drift” on the music comp that came out last year is a good example of Coto Normal's crossbreeding of intelligence and libidinosity. “Paths” is an echo-y, empty-bar trill that could serve as the theme song for whatever porno is released in the wake of Bottoms Up.
Coto Normal with Hello Stranger and 8MM at Detroit Bar, 843 W. 19th St., Costa Mesa, (949) 642-0600; www.detroitbar.com. Thurs., Dec. 14. Call for time. $5. 21+.
