Jay Gordon spawned the L.A. based Electro-Punk band Orgy in 1994, and by 1998, they were on the map with their successful debut album Candyass, which featured the singles “Blue Monday;” a New Order cover, and “Stitches.” Another single from the album, “Revival,” featured Korn’s Jonathan Davis, who signed Orgy to Korn’s label, Elementree Records. That same year, their first show was at Tulsa, Oklahoma’s annual Edgefest, and from there, they joined label mate Korn, on their Family Values with bands like Limp Bizkit, Ice Cube, Incubus, and Rammstein as well as tours with Love and Rockets and Sugar Ray. Having a lot of pressure on them to deliver, 2000’s sophomore effort, Vapor Transmission, showed the band could live up to the hype as they delivered a fantastic record featuring singles “Fiction (Dreams in Digital)” and “Opticon.”
By 2004, Gordon started D1 Music, and released the Punk Statik Paranoia album, which is now looked as a hidden treasure by fans over a decade later. Then, radio silence, leaving fans wondering if they would ever see or hear of Orgy ever again. Thankfully, in 2010, Gordon dusted off Orgy and launched the band again with a new lineup and promises of new material. Through a few years of touring around, fans patiently awaited the new material, and finally, in 2012, they released a new song, entitled “Grime of the Century” before, in 2014, the single “Wide Awake and Dead” trickled out. Singles are nice, and a great way to stimulate the appetite, but what fans really wanted was an album. Finally, Orgy (Jay Gordon on Vocals, Carlton Bost on Guitars, Creighton Emrick on Guitars, Nic Speck on Bass, and Bobby Amaro on Drums) released the EP, Talk Sick, on July 31, 2015 via D1 Music. While not a full-length record some had hoped for, fear not, because it is a total of seven songs, and there is word a second EP will follow in the coming months as well.
Talk Sick is seven tracks of Electropunk sexual innuendo with deep, body-pulsing bass and sound distortion that only Orgy can produce. The title, “Talk Sick,” gets the EP started with a thumping bass beat/synth mix followed by Jay’s lyrics of a seduction of porn and prostitution, but when they are done with the person, they are left to the dogs; “Move a little closer/Listen to the clock time/Tell me you want it/Yeah, I can make you talk sick.” A Funk/Punk beat brings in “Spells” as it continues with the dangers of prostitution and the “keep it on the down low” mentality; “I’ve seen the devil has got me in a spell/But I’m not one to kiss and tell.” Next, “Suck It” has a predatory-like bass beat with growling synths in this song about a one-night stand; “I don’t want to love you/(I don’t want to love you)/‘Cause baby, you’re mistaken that I’m here for you/I don’t want to love you/(Sex and lies is what I do).” Hypnotically, “Come Back” begins with synths blaring, followed by the almighty bass as the tune settles into a futuristic vibe while Gordon sings of the all too often busted hooker, who vows to quit “the biz,” but gets sucked back in; “Now I can make you come back/Anytime I want to (want to… want to.. want to)…”
The Disco club beat of single “Wide Awake and Dead” has a fun retro feel juxtapose to Orgy’s lyrics of prostitutes self-medicating to cope; “From one fiend to another/We’re perfect for each other…” The anthemic “G Face” uses everything in Orgy’s arsenal, from catchy drum lines to synths and air-tight riffs, in this piece of keeping a stiff upper lip regardless of how bad they might be treated; “Don’t look so down and out/Built your house/You burned it down/You’re not so innocent now (now)/Just can’t wait to blow this place/Feeling like a basket case/Let me see your G Face.” Talk Sick ends with the R&B-esque “Monster in Me” featuring the Electro House group, CulineR. This finale tells of the feeding frenzy of the johns and prostitutes in a “train;” “It’s not your fault/That the bitch in you/Is your enemy/She’s just afraid of the monster in you/The monster in me…”
It has been said absence makes the heart grow fonder. The rebirth of Orgy with their new EP, Talk Sick, gives credence to the saying. Talk Sick is immediately identifiable as Orgy musically, lyrically, and vocally with Gordon’s voice easily recognizable to welcome back older fans with a fresh and varied sound to draw in a new generation to the orgy. CrypticRock gives Talk Sick 5 out of 5 stars.
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Been a fan since the beginning. Even with a new line-up of band mates, These guys put on one heck of a show. I’ve been able to meet these guys in the SF and Sacramento areas when they come to play and they are always so grateful to the people who come out and see them. Always will be a fan. Keep up the good work and I’m excited for the new EP.