10 Neurotics

Black Tape For A Blue Girl | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 22, 2009)
• Original Release Date: 2009
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Projekt Records
• ASIN: B002JODUG6
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #284,656 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Given where Black Tape for a Blue Girl started almost a quarter of a century back with Sam Rosenthal's exploration of calm, extended electronics twinned with darkly textured, melodramatic performances that ended up being tagged as goth for lack of a better term, it's striking to sense how his muse and interests have been reflected over the years with the release of each new album. Halo Star had already showcased his increasing interest with neo-cabaret music and 10 Neurotics brings it flowering in the full, even as there's enough of the calm contemplation lurking in the arrangements and familiar from albums like Ashes in the Brittle Air. But right from the start, with the alternate-world Weimar-bar singalong of "Sailor Boy," performed by Laurie Reade and Athan Maroulis, Rosenthal's two main vocal muses this time around, it's clear that Rosenthal's work with performers like Nicki Jaine in the Revue Noir collaboration continues to bear further fruit. Jaine herself appears at various points throughout the album, her own vocal highlight being the amazing kiss-off "Rotten Zurich Café," while Rosenthal and multi-instrumentalist Brian Viglione handle the majority of the music. For all of the more overt role-playing in the lyrics in place of straight-up confessionals as in the past -- a good example of the newer approach being seen in "Inch Worm," with lyrics derived from, intriguingly enough, a blog by Courtney Edwards on the concerns of self-image -- there's still enough of it to draw a line back to the past. Combined with the calmer music on songs like "Caught by a Stranger," featuring Projekt regulars Michael Laird of Unto Ashes and Steve Roach, and even more notably "I Strike You Down," sung by the ever-elegant Elysabeth Grant, 10 Neurotics is in the end as much of a career summation as a marking point for Rosenthal. --All Music

Product Description

10 Neurotics reimagines the passion of Black Tape For A Blue Girl (and visionary founder / songwriter, Sam Rosenthal) in a rock / dark cabaret setting. Sam challenged himself to put the electronics and lushness aside; he wrote these songs on the acoustic guitar, an instrument he had never played before. The results bear a more considered approach to songwriting: structured, melodic and dare say even "traditional" in composition. It is a new approach to the mood and power for which Blacktape is known.

Featuring drum kit and bass for the first time in 20 years (courtesy of new band-member Brian Viglione of The Dresden Dolls & The Cliks), these fourteen songs are revealing first person narratives. These are stories so unnerving and personal that 10 Neurotics features an all-new line-up; the previous vocalists quit the group out of discomfort with the content.

Sam explains, "Many of the scenes take place in the fetish lifestyle: a culture of heightened sexuality, relationship dynamics, power and control. I set out to create an album that looks at our sexuality, obsessions and fetishes with a mature (rather than sensationalized) eye. Our life is a constant churning of desires, sometimes overtaking us - more often subverted, submerged and repressed. I wanted to directly confront reality: who are we when the disguise is stripped away? I wrote from real life as a way to plug directly into the core of pure experience without filtering it, I developed something genuinely fresh and vital."

"These songs demanded a rock-n-roll drummer to be successful, a drummer who could rock out as well as play subtle and textural passages. I went for the best and asked Brian." Impressed with the music, he quickly joined the band.

"Brian became much more involved than past band members, providing brilliant performances, insightful suggestions and co-producing the album. His enthusiasm reinforced my belief that I was onto something with this new direction. If I hesitated, Brian pushed me out of the safety net, `No man. Leave it in. Don't hold back!' Brian told me to take it to the edge, tell the stories I wanted to tell, use the images I wanted to use!"

The songs deal with a range of taboo topics: dominance/submission, furries, police state fetishists, pro-anna, exhibitionists, humiliation, self-destruction, cuckolding, and anonymous sex.

Sam looks at his characters non-critically without judgements or excuses for their actions. Like people in our real lives, they succumb to their urges and obsessions unaware of their place on the continuum from the erotic to the neurotic.

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Evoking Devious Cabaret, September 21, 2009

By 

nightshrill - See all my reviews

This review is from: 10 Neurotics (MP3 Download)

Black Tape for a Blue Girl has been around for oeuvre two decades and this album truly represents a break with much of their musical legacy. For one thing there are new musicians working within the project including Brian Viglione (of the Dresden Dolls), Athan Maroulis (from Spahn Ranch), Laurie Reade (from Attrition) alongside Nicki Jaine who has stayed with the project, and of course the composer/founder of BTFBG, Sam Rosenthal.

What 10 Neurotics invokes are scenes and dynamics of intimate human relationships within the spectrum of what is generally viewed as the "fetish lifestyle". However this is not an album dedicated to singing about whips and chains, but looking into the emotion and power aspects of human relationships through experiences that are embodied in each track. The new BTFBG succeeds in making a darkly deviant cabaret-esque album evoking and exploring all of these factors, and is definitely worth a look by fans of Black Tape as well as listeners who may not have enjoyed the ethereal wave that has dominated their sound for so many years.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars evocative and dark, February 10, 2010

By 

Raven (Pennsylvania USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 10 Neurotics (Audio CD)

I discovered Black Tape For a Blue Girl 15 years ago while searching for dark, textured, evocative music. I've collected just about all of its albums. I love Sam Rosenthal ~~ the creative force behind Black Tape ~~ for his musical genius and the beautiful emotional expression within his lyrics.

As for the latest release, 10 Neurotics, I can't stop listening to it. Definitely, this is the darkest of Sam's work, and ~~ as mentioned above ~~ a departure from what Black Tape usually produces. I particularly like the infusion of dark cabaret in the tracks.

As much as I love 10 Neurotics, I must warn that it's not for everyone because of the very dark lyrics that highlight S/D, fetish, and similar sexual relationships. This is DEFINITELY NOT my thing, but, yet, there is an elegance and beauty to the words and themes. Underneath the reviews is one entitled "YUCK!" ~ the writer was offended by the album cover art. If you're offended, too, the music are probably not for you.

I'm no reviewer of music, but I know what I like. If you're exploring, hop over to YouTube where you can view the videos of "Marmalade Cat" and "The Pleasure and the Pain," both beautiful, both giving you what you need to know to explore Black Tape's newest release.