Masterminded by Stuart Argabright, the New York project Dominatrix managed to score a mid-‘80s dance club smash, though the conservatism of the era curtailed its full potential. The story of “The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight” is loaded with cutting-edge Gothamites, budding pop luminaries, crucial early rap figures, legendary producers, lingering fumes from the No Wave and even the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States of America. It’s all detailed by Dave Tompkins in the excellent 16-page booklet included with Get On Down’s expanded reissue on hot pink 12-inch vinyl.
Outside of the cavalcade of personalities, a large part of Dominatrix’s appeal is how this one-shot straddled so many different aspects of its period, most prominently the rapidly evolving dance music of the decade; “The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight” was released on Street Wise Records, the label of Arthur Baker, noted as remixer and collaborator with Pet Shop Boys and New Order.
He also produced Afrika Bambaataa and the Soul Sonic Force’s exquisite “Planet Rock,” Baker’s rap connection mirrored by Dominatrix’s playing the 1984 New Music Seminar with Run DMC and more importantly, the pairing of Argabright (aka Arbright) with the late hip hop pioneer Rammellzee in the Death Comet Crew.
Dominatrix also connects to the No Wave movement’s progression away from sheer severity and toward the progressive linking of body and mind. A whole lot of this activity is documented on Soul Jazz Records’ three New York Noise compilations, and the most germane to the topic of this review is Vol. 3, its contents selected by Argabright and including both Dominatrix and his prior band Ike Yard.
Ike Yard got signed to Factory Records, alongside ESG the only US act on the label’s roster. Technically on Factory America, they released an LP that was either self-titled or named A Fact A Second, plus the EP “Night After Night” (issued on Les Disques Du Crépuscule), both in ’82, though younger ears likely made the group’s acquaintance through the 80-82 Collected CD on Dan Selzer’s Acute Records.
By the emergence of Dominatrix Argabright could be assessed as a veteran; before arriving in NYC he was in the early Washington, DC punk band The Rudements (they survive through a live track on Limp Records’ :30 Over DC comp), and post-Northern migration he initially formed The Futants. Ike Yard and the Death Comet Crew followed.
Argabright wasn’t alone in Dominatrix, his co-conspirators being Ivan Ivan (a long list of credits as a DJ and remixer, he’s also known for his work on Bow Wow Wow’s “I Want Candy”), Kenneth Lockie (from the synth-pop outfit Cowboys International and also the Death Comet Crew), and the vocalist Claudia Summers.
Originally a 4-song 12-inch recorded in the studio of Tangerine Dream’s Peter Baumann, “The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight” was a massive club hit, but widespread success was curtailed by the chickenshit behavior of radio stations and Music Television; the video was directed by Beth B, who in partnership with her brother Scott B was an underground film fixture and a leading light in the No Wave’s audio-visual department.
On her own she subsequently attempted ‘87’s Salvation!, an early independent feature mainly remembered today for a soundtrack wielding New Order, Arthur Baker, The Hood, and Cabaret Voltaire. It starred Exene Cervenka of X and a young Viggo Mortensen, the two later to marry after meeting on the set of this film, plus musician/actress Dominique Davalos, the “star” of the video for “The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight” and thereafter a member of the band, replacing Summers.
Today that video is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, but at the time MTV was simply unable to cope with the unconventionality of Dominatrix’s subject matter and Beth B’s directorial approach. Sadly, Baker’s indie endeavor Street Wise (or Streetwise, as it often appears) lacked the muscle to overcome inherent executive squareness.
If most radio stations spurned it as well, its popularity in the clubs was basically inevitable; “The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight” is a magnificent slab of electro, combining unflagging rhythmic programming and glistening keyboard ripples into three and a half minutes of uncut infectiousness as the chilly spoken-word interjections of Summers mingle with Lockie’s zealous croon.
Where metric tons of ‘80s-derived music suffers from an overload of sheen and an overreliance upon then novel tech, electro largely avoids this issue, in part because of its wholly synthetic nature and by extension its desire to craft a new dance floor sound spinning-off from the decline of disco. However, like disco before and the assorted shades of techno after, electro at its best transcends the club and endures as pure listening.
And yet to ignore Dominatrix’s body moving objectives is a mistake; herein there are remixes galore, though “The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight (Chants)” is more aptly described as 90 seconds of vocal elements isolated and reassembled from the preceding root source. Obviously an assist for creative DJ-ing, its usefulness on the home system is frankly somewhat limited.
Such is not the case with the “Dominant Mix,” its slightly longer duration distinctive mostly through subtly punchier execution, or the appropriately named “Beat Me Mix.” It should perhaps go without saying the latter’s title is a double-edged morsel of wit, its tidy length unfurling as a far more rhythmically forceful scenario.
There’s a non-labored lightness of touch in the Dominatrix narrative, and indeed more than a bit of humor; for another example, the repeated male voice exclaiming “Ow! Ow! Ow!” Further enhanced by their brevity of existence and the odd circumstances of the song’s inspiration, it’s dished with panache by Tompkins. I’d feel like a jerk for divulging the good stuff so I shan’t play the spoiler.
I will emphasize the booklet is a real doozy in terms of information and design; together with the recollections of Argabright, Ivan, and Davalos, there are reproductions of articles, ads, and show-bills, the glossy pages additionally splashed with photos of the video shoot taken by Beth B’s u-ground film colleague Richard Kern. Did I mention this reissue roped in a mess of interesting characters?
And it’s all up to Get On Down’s usual packaging standard, color vinyl tucked into a quality jacket and slid into a clear plastic pouch. But what about those bonus cuts? Well, they do a very nice job of highlighting the breadth of Dominatrix’s reach. For starters, the previously unreleased cover of Iggy Pop’s “Play it Safe” (from ‘80s Soldier, the original featuring the input of Bowie and Simple Minds) underscores Dominatrix as spawned from the great punk spasm.
Back in his Rudements days, Argabright was known as “little Iggy.” And I like the raw wildness of this version more than its template, but I really dig the concluding “Scratch Mix,” the track flaunting the contribution of DJ Red Alert. In between is “City That Never Sleeps,” a potent instrumental giving a hectic twist to Dominatrix’s electro foundation. For folks already owning a copy these bonuses easily evade the superfluous and the overall presentation will make this edition difficult for fans to pass up.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A-
