Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By

Band: Lovage
Album: Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By
Best song: “Stroker Ace” is a classic.
Worst song: Damon Albarn ruins “Lovage (Love That Lovage, Baby).”

Whatever happened to Dan the Automator?

I realize this is kind of a rhetorical question. After doing a quick Google search, it appears he still tours, he’s going to work with some indie acts and has even released his own beer. Shit, looking at his wikipedia page shows that he’s been producing stuff for a bunch of artists recently. On some level, I think my lack of thought about him in recent memory is based on a few things.

1. He was so prolific during my college years and college is a formative time for any music lover.
2. I do not care about that first Gorillaz record.

Ultimately, he got shitcanned from Gorillaz, so that may not even be accurate, as far as timelines are concerned. My point remains: How did Dan the Automator have such a great run from 1999-2003, yet completely fall off the earth after that?

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I doubt he thinks of it that way. Handsome Boy Modeling School, Lovage and Deltron 3030 were, seemingly, short-un projects that ran their respective courses. I’m sure he’s happy doing whatever he does; we all grow up and find ourselves doing different things. It’s not like Coppola is doing anything close to The Godfather anymore, right?

Lovage is am outstandingly cool project, though, and Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By is worlds of fun. Mike Patton’s weird head has decidedly lovely chemistry with Elysian Fields’ Jennifer Charles for some truly strange songs. Adding onto that is the overriding weird Hitchcock feel — the title is based on a record from the 50s: Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Music to be Murdered By and songs are named after Hitchcock movies– and a musical vibe that echoes the lounge genre of that period.

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Lovage also gave us this.

It’s no secret that I’m a complete sucker for covers, even hip hop covers. So, when I saw Lovage live at the House of Blues — yeah, that place blows — in 2002, I was completely in love when I saw them do most of the record live. during the opener’s set, Automator — If I remember correctly, he is huge. Probably 6’5″ or 6’6″ — walked around the crowd in a robe smoking a pipe, looking like a giant Hugh Hefner. It was amazing.

Then, they did “I’m Real.” Forgetting that the song is kind of a cool song in its original form — it is — but to turn it on its head by switching the gender of the vocalists is brilliant. Jennifer Charles’ Ja Rule impression is lovely and Patton sings the hell out of the Jennifer Lopez part. Totally worth it and if Automator never does anything again, this was enough.