The Lords Of Acid came along at a formative time in my life. The summer of 1998 was the first time I smoked marijuana. A lot of the music I was listening to at the time took on another meaning and suddenly songs like "Rainy Day Women 12 & 35" and "Purple Haze" made a lot more sense. I'd been told my entire life that one toke would make my brain dribble out my ears and my dick fall off, but it didn't happen. I knew I'd been lied to my entire life. And so I saw almost every track that portrayed weed in a positive light as further proof of the lie and began to seek out anything musical with a reference in it. One day, while rummaging around a local used CD/head shop, I stumbled upon VooDoo-U with its curious censored devil-girl orgy cover. I knew acid was a drug, but I was more interested by the song title "Marijuana In Your Brain." Even though at that time I had no interest in or knowledge of electronic music, this album was on constant rotation that whole summer centered by the demented reggae anthem "Marijuana" that featured backing vocals by a couple of the most burned out burn-outs ever recorded.
While the glorification of drug use is a recurring theme of VooDoo-U, more of the LP is dedicated to the very bottom of degenerate perversion: a celebration of pubic lice, hardcore S&M, and the story of a guy called "Dirty Willy," which pretty much sums him up. I was a blossoming teen at the time, so this sort of subject matter was easily captivating to me. Cut to seven years later. Now I'm a fully blown electronic nut, yet I hadn't listened to VooDoo-U in three. I'd seen it there on the rack from time to time, but as with any CD you've been removed from so long, I could imagine what it sounded like and it sure didn't sound that good. I'd played it to death and then never again, cold turkey. But I was feeling sentimental one day, so I decided to give it a spin for old time's sake, to hear it again for the first time and possibly throw it in my ever expanding sell pile. As soon as the drum & bass rhythm and gnarled synth kicked in under the demonic opening vocals of the title track, my musical path as of late suddenly made a lot more sense, too. When I got into electronica, I always felt uncontrollably drawn to the angriest and dirtiest sounds I could find. Now I know that's at least in part due to the production of Praga Khan and the industrial turn the LoA took sometime after 1991's acid house icebreaker Lust. VooDoo-U is dirty, aggressive, and scary on so many levels. I wouldn't change it for the world.
1. VooDoo-U
2. Crablouse
3. She & Mr Jones
4. Do What You Wanna Do
5. Young Boys
6. Out Comes The Evil
7. Mister Machoman
8. Marijuana In You Brain
9. Special Moments
10. Dirty Willy
11. Drink My Honey
12. Blowing Up Your Mind