Kissed is
set to the 1989 compilation of single reels from the Kiss series.
In this compilation, 12 reels are included. Gerard Malanga appears
in a few, while an unknown woman appears in about 4 of the reels,
suggesting that maybe many of the Kiss reels were shot at
the one time. It is also possible that different people operated
the camera, as the framing and photography changes substantially
from reel to reel: some feature zooms, some are fixed on faces set
against blank backgrounds, and others show the couple on the infamous
Factory couch. All reels commence in white and fade to white, evidencing
the Warhol technique of utilizing every frame of the exposed roll,
complete with its imperfections normally excised from release prints.
Warhol's original intention was to have the films projected at the
silent rate of 16fps, and Kissed is set to a screening
of the 1989 compilation played on a variable speed projector running
at 16fps. The complete work runs for 53 minutes.
Each
individual composition composed
to accompany each reel is strictly repetitive - in keeping with
how Warhol's fascination with bland repetition belied a surfeit of
charm and warmth in contents and themes presumed to be bereft of
such depth. The music is thus lush while adhering to a grid-locked
structural development. This also relates to the onscreen acton of
performers locked into position, forced to perform their sensual
act while being boxed within the screen's territorial scopic zone.
The
drum parts were recorded first, freely disengaged from watching the Kiss reels. Each
composition features two live drum performances (originally lasting
around 6 minutes from which a 4 minute excerpt is used per kiss reel).
The second performance is multi-tracked on top the first performance,
with the idea being that each drum track is the energy core of one
of the people engaged in kissing. The rhythmic intermeshing of the
dual drum tracks symbolises the energy being forged by the couple's
embrace.
Each
of the drum tracks is recorded with a varying 10-mic configuration designed
to be played back in quadraphonic surround. The intermeshing of the
dual drum tracks is here intensified by the co-habitative spatialization
of each drum track, as their rhythmic blend is compounded by the
spatial patterns generated by shifting the individual track components
(snare, kick, cymbal, etc.) across the quadraphonic space.
Once
all the drum tracks were recorded, their tempos and sonic density
was gauged in order to see which Kiss reel complemented
the energy of the drums. And once each dual drum track was accorded
a reel, the rest of the composition of bass and keyboards
was then undertaken in consideration of the relative couple's performative
energy.
Kiss
1
The
1st reel is the only reel incorporating a 'blooper': for about
1 minute, a girl (Naomi Levine) kisses a guy, but then they break
into laughter. Following an in-camera edit, Gerard Malanga appears
and is kissing the girl through to the conclusion of the reel.
The score tracks this rupture, featuring a slow build-up of drums
alone, then opening out into a swirl of bass and keyboards to
accompany the Malanga performance that saved the day.
Kiss
2
Shimmering
slightly out-of-focus,
the 2nd reel's couple
mostly stay still and clinched, framed in a classic 50s'-style
embrace. The stillness and softness of the image inspired the
distant reverbed drums which slowly fade up in layers in the
surround mix. The vibes accordingly 'shimmer' to reflect the
inner glow this idealised couple are potentially experiencing.
Kiss
3
Many
of the Kiss reels perform an anthropological function,
documenting precise mannerisms and behaviour of people at a certain
historical juncture of time and space. The 3rd reel exemplifies
this, depicting two bare-chested teenage boys (possibly John
Palmer & Andrew Myer?) locked in a particularly feverish tongue-fest.
Bordering on kiddie porn, their gangly bodies and arms flail
about in an unabashed erotic display, culminating in one boy
aggressively tugging on the other. The score here features layers
of improvised gestures playing on prepared drums and cymbals,
generating a heat haze drone of sizzling textures to reflect
the suggestive danger of this couple's knife-edge consumption
of each other.
Kiss
4
Baby
Jane Holzer - one of Warhol's richest muses - features in the
4th reel with John Palmer. Her blonde bountiful hair blooms as
she manages to pout while kissing. Playing upon the exaggerated
sex-doll persona she projects, the score ironically exudes a
soft jazz-funk slickness which (still) tends to symbolize 'rich
people with taste'. Warbling synth overlays build up with modulating
intensity to reflect the gaudy emotional display of this reel.
Kiss
5
The
intriguing quaintness of Kiss is mostly foregrounded
in the same-sex couplings. Filmed in a pre-gay - and even pre-Stonewall
- era, the blunt depiction of two men kissing is equally radical
for both its time (1964) and even by today's standards. While
an overt porno-sexuality is absent, there is a strong suggestion
of undercurrents in this 5th reel in its unflinching near-emotionless
capture of two young men (Gerard Malanga being one) frenching
it full-on. The score is based on a set of 2-note motifs which
gurgle in the low resgister and bubble toward upper registers
in gravelly timbrel arcs. This composition features 3 drum tracks,
each bearing a frenzied military-style beat. The idea was to
take a celebratory tune like Village People's In
The Navy but time-warp it a decade earlier to project how
it might sound in an earlier era. The drums are compressed into
sheets of noise which gradually clear to reveal their constituent
parts, at which point they are obliterated by a 4/4 thud of a
bare disco kick-drum.
Kiss
6
While
the Factory epoch has been historicised as a decadent period
born of Warhol's fascination with the hedonistic Others of the
early 60s lower village, so many of Warhol's silent films from
the time depict some remarkably 'clean' looking types. The couple
in the 6th reel (Naomi Levine & The Fugs' Ed Sanders) almost
evoke a mythical princess and prince - perhaps sardonically sychronising
with the 'Camelot era' of the JFK/Jackie union. The keyboards
riff on these associations, evoking a slightly maddened overlay
of music-box tinkling - sparkling yet oppressive in it harmonic
density. Mock french-horn lines mimic the moustachioed allure
of nordic lover as his follicles are gently tongued by his maiden
in waiting.
Kiss
7
Starkly
contrasted to the other reels, the couple in the 7th reel are
isolated in pitch black. Their black sweaters and black hair
leave only their faces and hands visible as white orbs and stunted
tentacles. This composition was the first compossed in the Kissed suite,
and the jazz-like palette of drum kits, electic pianos and fretless
bass was inspired by the vampira-like neo-Beat cocktail lounge
vibe of this reel. The darkness aids in casting this couple as
a statuesque goddess (played by the sculptor Marisol) being set
upon by a very creepy looking mime guy. The composition thus
quivers with a spooky aura, suggesting that all the kisses depcited
here are impelled by dark undercurrents.
Kiss
8
The
'race issue' never figured prominently in Warhol's early prints,
painting and sculptural installations, however it undeniably
comes to the fore in many of his early films. While social
histories point to cinematic advents as signs of how 'the times
are changing', the taboo of the interracial kiss does not mark
the Hollywoood screen until the late 60s (and even then, under
the most distilled conditions). The 8th Kiss reel thrusts
the interracial kiss in the viewer's face. This is no guarded
peck on the cheek or brush of the lip: a hyper-sensual tango
of lips unfolds as the frame captures theatre actor Rufus Collins
towering over a lithe WASP girl. It's the Mandingo effect
in overdrive, risable to conservative America yet titilating
all the same. The score plays upon this exploitative thrill of
the scene with pumping primal drums topped by a slinky string
section to match the unbridled sexuality of the couple's embrace.
Kiss
9
A
fractured drum motif and various cut-up percussive elements drive
this track toward a slow climax. This kiss seemed the most opaque,
and the the couple's slow-simmering arousal is far more internalised
than the other that of the other couples. To emphasize this invisibilty,
the accompanying pop-ish track suggests that there is an entirely
unheard song playing in their heads.
Kiss
10
Most
of the Kiss reels dance a fine line between people agreeing
to 'act out' the kiss for the camera, and them becoming aroused
uncontrollably by their innocent pretence to 'kiss'. Typical
of Warhol's purported game-playing with people, the results waver
between cabaret spectacles and uncomfortable exposes. The 10th
reel features a couple whose theatricality blocks any true erotic
impulse. They perform an archly melodramatic entwining, like
Broadway thespians sucking on pursed lips. An uptight bossa nova
rhythm accompanies their parlour game charade - yet this is musically
undercut by a swelling synth line which ponders whether these
prancing prudes might not be getting just a little moist
under their claustrophobic clothing.
Kiss
11
The
most Preppy couple feature in the 11th Kiss reel. Undercutting
their high-collar button-down demenaour, the accompanying score
irrationally percolates with a disproportionate amount of funk
bass and fuzzed clavichord. In some of Warhol's early sound
films (like Vinyl,
etc.) music appears in the form of whatever records were lying
around the Factory. Interestingly, Velvet Underground style rock-droning
never figures. In place: hot soul and froogalicious
pop yelp from the portable record player. History now soundscapes
the Factory years with the Velvet's seminal sonic scawl, but
there are indications that such a dark angel tonality was not
the sole ambience in the Factory. The score here alludes to
that aesthetic clash.
Kiss
12
The
most slug-like performance arrives in the final 12th reel. The
couple's face is heavily cropped, leaving us with a fleshy morph
of lips and noses. This couple's jaw-lock is total, formidable
and final. The death aesthetic arises from the morbid stillness
of their action. Somewhere between narcolepsy and necropsy, the
image is part sleping princess being kissed by a prince, and
part deviant suckling on the dead. The score is distilled into
these two parallel thematic lines: a lulling chord sequence gently
cycles against a 3-octave pattern filtered with saliva-bubble
crackling. Truly a goodbye kiss.
BUY
Kissed
directly through Sound Punch Records online using PayPal from March 2009
