electronic country, a kind of good-time music played by mad dwarfs
lothar and the hand people!
found at dreamchimney…
Lothar and the Hand People was a late 1960s psychedelic rock band known for their spacey music and pioneering use of the theremin and Moog modular synthesizer.
(^ wikipedia)
MP3: Lothar and the Hand People – Machines (via dreamchimney)
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the band formed in denver in 1965 when NY-born john emelin and his university of colorado roommate richard willis were inspired to form a jug band after seeing the rolling stones play…
Willis, in classic hippie fashion, came up with the band’s appellation while he was sleeping; he had a dream in which an enslaved race called the Hand People was saved by a hero named Lothar, and when he related the scenario to his fellows, who’d been stumped in their search for a trippy handle, the moniker stuck. Only later did they decide that a theremin owned by Emelin was actually the group’s namesake. “People would always ask, ‘Who’s Lothar?’, and we wouldn’t know what to tell them,” Conly says. “But finally we realized that Lothar had been there all along.”
“Our timing was good,” Emelin says. “We were long-haired at a time when there were only one or two other long-haired bands in town; the rest were old-fashioned greaser bands. So we hit the scene with a more modern look, and that propelled us to local fame right away.”
(^ lotharandthehandpeople.com.)
the band moved to new york. they started gigging at a greenwich village club, befriending a local guitarist called jimmy james (who would later move to london and get a few gigs under the name jimi hendrix). the hand people on the other hand (ha!) recorded a debut album, enlisting a novice composer whose only credits at the time involved production music for star trek but whose future credits would involve the lion’s share of stevie wonder’s 70s catalogue, robert margouleff…
It is electronic country, a kind of good-time music played by mad dwarfs, and it is really good to listen to. There is no tension here, no jarring forces at war with each other. It may be strange that New York, the city which deifies speed and insanity, could produce this music, but it is as if Lothar and the Hand People have gone through this madness and come out on the other side, smiling.
Lothar and the Hand People have a spirit about them which pervades all they do. And after awhile, you’ll see, it doesn’t matter what they do, because the spirit is sort of happy and a lot of fun to be with. It captures a New York time when something happened that denied the concept of a city. And something which can do that, which can overcome the smoke and noise and confusion, is to me something very valuable to have.
(^ rolling stone, 1969)
less than five years later, the band would wrap things up. a couple of years ago, “presenting… lothar and the hand people” was re-issued by razor & tie records.
the full story of lothar and the hand people can be read here.
here’s a clip of a dude listening to “machines” on LP in his lounge room. the internet is an increasingly absurd place to hang out: