Combustible Edison
Encyclopedia
Combustible Edison was a group founded in the early 1990s in Providence, Rhode Island
, and was one of several lounge music
acts that led a brief resurgence of interest in the genre during the mid-1990s. Unlike other bands with a more ironic
take on the lounge scene, Combustible Edison took the music seriously and strove to add to what its members saw as a canon of works, such as those by Esquivel
, Henry Mancini
, and Martin Denny
.
In 1991, the Millionaire wrote a stage show entitled "The Tiki Wonder Hour," and formed the 14-piece "Combustible Edison Heliotropic Oriental Mambo and Foxtrot Orchestra" to accompany the performance. After three performances of "Wonder Hour," the orchestra slimmed down to its five core members, shortened its name, and put out a debut album, I, Swinger, on Sub Pop
records. The band put out two more full-length discs - Schizophonic!
and The Impossible World - and several singles. The band performed on Late Night with Conan O'Brien
on December 23, 1994.
The band also recorded the soundtrack to the film Four Rooms
, with music produced by Mark Mothersbaugh
. The main theme for the Four Rooms soundtrack, "Vertigogo
," was submitted for consideration for an Academy Award but was ultimately disqualified from consideration because of its incomprehensible lyrical content, despite the fact that the band submitted a lyric sheet with their best written approximation of the lyrics.(Cite Source) Music from the band has appeared as backdrop music on the NPR program This American Life
. The band's song The Millionaire's Holiday was used in several television commercials for OK Soda
when it was test marketed in 1994.
Unlike other musical acts who, to warm up live audiences, employ an opening act, Combustible Edison instead chose to display a short film, "Dark Night in the Ultraviolet City," which was billed as "Combustible Edison's Opening Act". Director Guy Benoit described it as a vignette exploring the Combustible Edison mindset. Combustible Edison provides the music for this short film, and The Millionaire himself has a cameo as a robot. During some shows, the film was played during intermission instead of an opener. Experimental filmmaker Kenneth Anger
was invited to direct an accompanying video for the song "Bluebeard," but declined commenting that he didn't care for the music. (He also commented that the song was never released as a result; on the contrary, it featured on Schizophonic! and was released as a single in its own right.)
After Combustible Edison, The Millionaire went on to help build the online music community site Luxuriamusic.com. A cocktail enthusiast, he also contributed the Combustible Edison Cocktail, the recipe for which was printed on the back cover of the band's debut "I, Swinger" CD. It was later collected by Paul Harrington in his book Cocktail: The Drinks Bible for the 21st Century. The Millionaire has been credited with coining the term "Cocktail Nation".
Additional members
Unreleased
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
, and was one of several lounge music
Lounge music
Lounge music is a retrospective description of music popular in the 1950s and 1960s. It is a type of mood music meant to evoke in the listeners the feeling of being in a place — a jungle, an island paradise, outer space, et cetera — other than where they are listening to it...
acts that led a brief resurgence of interest in the genre during the mid-1990s. Unlike other bands with a more ironic
Irony
Irony is a rhetorical device, literary technique, or situation in which there is a sharp incongruity or discordance that goes beyond the simple and evident intention of words or actions...
take on the lounge scene, Combustible Edison took the music seriously and strove to add to what its members saw as a canon of works, such as those by Esquivel
Juan García Esquivel
Juan García Esquivel often simply known as Esquivel!, was a Mexican band leader, pianist, and composer for television and films. He is recognized today as one of the foremost exponents of a sophisticated style of largely instrumental music that combines elements of lounge music and jazz with Latin...
, Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini was an American composer, conductor and arranger, best remembered for his film and television scores. He won a record number of Grammy Awards , plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously in 1995...
, and Martin Denny
Martin Denny
Martin Denny was an American piano-player and composer best known as the "father of exotica." In a long career that saw him performing well into his 80s, he toured the world popularizing his brand of lounge music which included exotic percussion, imaginative rearrangements of popular songs, and...
.
History
In the early 1980s, the artists known as The Millionaire and Miss Lily Banquette formed, with Peter Dixon, a rock band called Christmas, which put out several albums. Nicholas Cudahy also performed with Christmas in the late 1980s.In 1991, the Millionaire wrote a stage show entitled "The Tiki Wonder Hour," and formed the 14-piece "Combustible Edison Heliotropic Oriental Mambo and Foxtrot Orchestra" to accompany the performance. After three performances of "Wonder Hour," the orchestra slimmed down to its five core members, shortened its name, and put out a debut album, I, Swinger, on Sub Pop
Sub Pop
Sub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman in Seattle, Washington. Sub Pop achieved fame in the late 1980s for first signing Nirvana, Soundgarden, Mudhoney and many other bands from the Seattle music scene...
records. The band put out two more full-length discs - Schizophonic!
Schizophonic! (Combustible Edison album)
Schizophonic! is an album by Combustible Edison. It was released on February 27, 1996 on Sub Pop.-Track listing:*1. Alright, Already*2. Bluebeard*3. The Checkered Flag*4. One Eyed Monkey*5. Les Yeux Sans Visage *6. Solid State*7. '52'...
and The Impossible World - and several singles. The band performed on Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien that aired 2,725 episodes on NBC between 1993 and 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and musical and comedy performances. Late Night aired weeknights at 12:37 am...
on December 23, 1994.
The band also recorded the soundtrack to the film Four Rooms
Four Rooms
Four Rooms is a 1995 portmanteau comedy film telling four stories set in a hotel in the US city of Los Angeles on New Year's Eve. Tim Roth stars as the principal character of the frame tale; he also takes part to some degree in all four stories....
, with music produced by Mark Mothersbaugh
Mark Mothersbaugh
Mark Allen Mothersbaugh is an American musician, composer, singer and painter. He is the co-founder of the new wave band Devo and has been its lead singer since 1972. His other musical projects include work for television series, films, and video games....
. The main theme for the Four Rooms soundtrack, "Vertigogo
Vertigogo
"Vertigogo" is the title theme for the Four Rooms film soundtrack by Combustible Edison.It was submitted for consideration for an Academy Award but was ultimately disqualified from consideration because of its incomprehensible lyrical content...
," was submitted for consideration for an Academy Award but was ultimately disqualified from consideration because of its incomprehensible lyrical content, despite the fact that the band submitted a lyric sheet with their best written approximation of the lyrics.(Cite Source) Music from the band has appeared as backdrop music on the NPR program This American Life
This American Life
This American Life is a weekly hour-long radio program produced by WBEZ and hosted by Ira Glass. It is distributed by Public Radio International on PRI affiliate stations and is also available as a free weekly podcast. Primarily a journalistic non-fiction program, it has also featured essays,...
. The band's song The Millionaire's Holiday was used in several television commercials for OK Soda
OK Soda
OK Soda was a soft drink created by The Coca-Cola Company in 1993 that aggressively courted the Generation X demographic with unusual advertising tactics, including endorsements and even outright negative publicity. It did not sell well in select test markets and was officially declared out of...
when it was test marketed in 1994.
Unlike other musical acts who, to warm up live audiences, employ an opening act, Combustible Edison instead chose to display a short film, "Dark Night in the Ultraviolet City," which was billed as "Combustible Edison's Opening Act". Director Guy Benoit described it as a vignette exploring the Combustible Edison mindset. Combustible Edison provides the music for this short film, and The Millionaire himself has a cameo as a robot. During some shows, the film was played during intermission instead of an opener. Experimental filmmaker Kenneth Anger
Kenneth Anger
Kenneth Anger is an American underground experimental filmmaker, occasional actor and author...
was invited to direct an accompanying video for the song "Bluebeard," but declined commenting that he didn't care for the music. (He also commented that the song was never released as a result; on the contrary, it featured on Schizophonic! and was released as a single in its own right.)
After Combustible Edison, The Millionaire went on to help build the online music community site Luxuriamusic.com. A cocktail enthusiast, he also contributed the Combustible Edison Cocktail, the recipe for which was printed on the back cover of the band's debut "I, Swinger" CD. It was later collected by Paul Harrington in his book Cocktail: The Drinks Bible for the 21st Century. The Millionaire has been credited with coining the term "Cocktail Nation".
Members
Original line-up- Miss Lily Banquette (vocals, bongos) (AKA Liz Cox)
- The Millionaire (electric guitar) (AKA Michael Cudahy)
- Nick Cudahy (double bass)
- Mr. Peter Dixon (organ)
- Aaron Oppenheimer (percussion)
Additional members
- Michael "Laughing Boy" Connors
- Brother Cleve
Complete Discography
- Cry me a river 7" vinyl (1993)
- Blue Light ep (1993)
- I, Swinger Sub PopSub PopSub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman in Seattle, Washington. Sub Pop achieved fame in the late 1980s for first signing Nirvana, Soundgarden, Mudhoney and many other bands from the Seattle music scene...
(1994) - Four RoomsFour RoomsFour Rooms is a 1995 portmanteau comedy film telling four stories set in a hotel in the US city of Los Angeles on New Year's Eve. Tim Roth stars as the principal character of the frame tale; he also takes part to some degree in all four stories....
Original Soundtrack Album (1995) - Schizophonic!Schizophonic! (Combustible Edison album)Schizophonic! is an album by Combustible Edison. It was released on February 27, 1996 on Sub Pop.-Track listing:*1. Alright, Already*2. Bluebeard*3. The Checkered Flag*4. One Eyed Monkey*5. Les Yeux Sans Visage *6. Solid State*7. '52'...
Sub PopSub PopSub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman in Seattle, Washington. Sub Pop achieved fame in the late 1980s for first signing Nirvana, Soundgarden, Mudhoney and many other bands from the Seattle music scene...
(February 27, 1996) - Short Double Latte ep (1996)
- Bluebeard ep (1996)
- The Impossible World (1998)
Miscellaneous Tracks
- Monopoly Queen / Let's keep it friendly (7" with Lisa Crystal CarverLisa Crystal CarverLisa Crystal Carver , also known as Lisa Suckdog, is an American writer known for her writing in Rollerderby. Through her interviews, she introduced the work of Vaginal Davis, Dame Darcy, Cindy Dall, Boyd Rice, Costes , Nick Zedd, GG Allin, Kate Landau, Queen Itchie & Liz Armstrong to many...
and Boyd RiceBoyd RiceBoyd Blake Rice is an American experimental sound/noise musician using the name of NON since the mid-1970s, archivist, actor, photographer, author, member of the Partridge Family Temple religious group, co-founder of the UNPOP art movement and current staff writer for Modern Drunkard...
) - Happy Holidays from Sub Pop (promotional cd featuring "Christmas Time is here" and "Sleigh Ride")
- Secret Agent S.O.U.N.D.S. (contributed Mancini cover "A shot in the dark")
- Lounge-a-palooza (contributed Esquivel cover "Miniskirt")
Unreleased
- Montenegro Non Tropo (from Schizophonic! sessions, also name of cocktail)
- Incomplete (unmastered track recorded in collaboration with Bryan FerryBryan FerryBryan Ferry, CBE is an English singer, musician, and songwriter. Ferry came to public prominence in the early 1970s as lead vocalist and principal songwriter with the band Roxy Music, who enjoyed a highly successful career with three number one albums and ten singles entering the top ten charts in...
)
Side Projects
- Miss Lily Banquette - "My Secret Love" on the Grace of My HeartGrace of My HeartGrace of My Heart is a 1996 film written and directed by Allison Anders, set in the pop music world, starting off in New York's Brill Building early 1960s era, weaving through the California Sound of the mid '60s and culminating with the adult-contemporary scene of the early 1970s.The plot follows...
Original Soundtrack, and "Oahu" on The 6thsThe 6thsThe 6ths is a band created by Stephin Merritt, also the prime mover behind The Magnetic Fields, The Gothic Archies and Future Bible Heroes.One story has it that the band was conceived when Merritt, observing that there was no tribute album dedicated to him, decided to make one himself...
album Hyacinths & Thistles. - The Millionaire - "Supercasanova" loungey pop album created with Eric Bonerz, and involvement with the Velvet Hammer Burlesque troupe as The Millionaire and his Maharajahs of Melody or The Millionaire and his Bad, Bad Men - including four tracks on a soundtrack to a documentary on the troupe.
- Peter Dixon - Released a solo album of instrumental, lounge-influences tracks in 2007 titled "Shady Planet".
- Brother Cleve - Member of The Swinging Erudites. Released music under Brother Cleve and his Lush Orchestra, including tracks for "Two Zombies Later" 2CD compilation. Producer for exotica band Waitiki. Also known as keyboardist for Indo-pop band Dragonfly and most recently produced his own Hindi-influenced album under the moniker DJ Sharaabi Kappor.
- Mike Connors - Replacement drummer for Tiki band Waitiki.
External links
- You Swinger Miss Daphne Q. Appleby's Combustible Fansite