Sound Check — Geoff Carter: Enjoying a tasty helping from local band Home Cookin’

Friday, Sept. 17, 1999 | 10:31 a.m.

Geoff Carter's music column appear Fridays. Reach him at carter@ vegas.com

"Pink in the Middle," the sophomore record from local band Home Cookin', drops in late October. At least, that's the plan.

"All this stuff," the band's drummer and producer, Frank Klepacki, says, "will come together at the last minute."

That's fine by the 10-man funk outfit. In a cultural arena more or less dominated by the metal/rap fusion of Korn and Limp Bizkit, Home Cookin' pumps out 1970s funk and blue-eyed soul; the band has been rewarded with an ever-growing local fan base for its devotion to the old school. Improvisation -- the last-minute factor -- is all part of the gig.

A lot of hands stir the Home Cookin' formula, but ultimately, it's Klepacki's palate that tests it. Fast becoming an old pro -- he has worked the board for locals Floor Thirteen and Rohn Shead -- Klepacki took some time off his busy schedule to talk up the latest specialty of the house, the follow-up to the band's popular debut record, "Mmm, Mmm, Mmm." Hope you like it rare.

Question: How did the making of this record differ from making the debut?

Answer: This time around we had a plan going in. We'd rehearsed the songs a lot before we took them into the studio, got 'em tight. And I had a much better idea of how to produce the band this time in terms of sonic quality and, um, retro warmth (chuckles).

Q: "Retro warmth"? I like that.

A: Yeeeeeah

Q: So, tell us a little about the tracks on "Pink in the Middle." Any favorites?

A: Oh, man, there's gonna be a bunch on this one. We ended up with 11 tracks total, one of which is a remix of "X-Rated Superstar" -- it's all hip-hopped out. It's already been released; we put that out on the LVLocalMusicScene.com compilation CD as a kind of teaser.

There's some slammin' stuff on the record. "Big Wheel" is a great song ... "Keep on Movin' "... "Daddy's Gone," which has a Kool and the Gang-style, old-school vibe to it..."I Got Your Back." Our new guitarist, Ryan Bull -- he wrote that one.

Q: Anything bullish about him?

A: He plays like a bull! He's a monster, man. Once he learned our stuff -- which was a task in itself -- he had no problem jumping right into the writing, jumping right into the mix. He brought some great ideas.

Q: Is "Pink in the Middle" another fabulous Fly Records release?

A: Yeah, we're putting another one out on our own label. Basically, with all the things we've heard from bands ... about how the major labels are these days, it seems ludicrous to dream about The Big Deal, with all the things you can do on your own with an Internet presence (www.home-cookin.com) and proper promotion. Once we've got all that together, I think we've got a good chance of pushing this ourselves.

Q: Have you played this stuff live yet?

A: We're playing all of it live, man! We want people warmed up and ready.

Q: So, is there anything you'd like to say to anyone who, through no fault of their own, hasn't boogied down to Home Cookin' yet?

A: Beware of the funk!

Stereo Dynamics

Various Artists, "Best of Moog," Loud Records

The Moog synthesizer is one of the great, unsung marvels of our time. Nothing sounds quite like it. In comparison, modern-day synthesizers sound completely natural; the Moog, caught between the body-paint '60s and polyester '70s, sounds like a beanbag looks. It's functional, even fun -- and, on another level, entirely wrong.

"Best of Moog," a compilation from the creeping braintrust at anti-news website Disinfo.com, revels in the Moog's otherness. Beginning with Hot Butter's perky, so-close-to-insidious "Popcorn," every bleat, every bubble, every flatulent-sounding blast on "Best of Moog" is treated with reverence, as something utterly contemporary. Listening to these 18 selections (plus a brilliant Fatboy Slim remix of Jean Jacques Perrey's "E.V.A."), one can almost imagine that raves began around the time of the moon landing; that these artists were part of a genre.

In truth, they were. One can hear the loopy twists and turns of Perrey-Kingsley's "The Savers" and "Baroque Hoedown" (the latter became the theme to Disney's "Main Street Electrical Parade") clear as life in the current work of Orbital; Roni Size could learn a few things from Armando Trovaioli's "Kinky Peanuts"; Moby could do worse than to add First Moog Quartet's Isaac Hayes tribute "Shank" to his live set, just as it is. And there's plenty of beanbags for the kids to goof around with -- Gil Trythall's "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" will drive you bat-freaking-insane inside of three microtones, and Trovaioli's "I Apologize Mr. Rossini" could stop the heart of every last person at (local classical station) KNPR.

A friend of mine once said, "Keep changing the trick. That way, people will realize that it is a trick, and not a mistake." For good or ill -- mostly good -- that's exactly what "Best of Moog" does. In small doses, it will delight you; taken all at once, it will boil your mind to a stew. And if they dare have me on KNPR's "Guess Who's Playing the Classics?" again, take a wild guess as to what I'm leading off with.

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