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THE SEX FILES: Catching Up

By
Ralph Greco
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0
Sorry, it’s been a while. You know how life intrudes, even in the face of all those sexual interests we might share. I promise to get back to a little bit more regular posting here in/on The Sex Files, but in the meantime, I do need to catch you up a bit, so below I do with some things personal, some things not, but all things kinda naughty.

I befriended, via the podcast I co-host (see and hear here), the CEO of Robobabez recently. This European-based company offers customized sex dolls of high-end quality. As you can see by the picture here and you can go to the Robobabez website here: Robobabez – Let us turn you on!

What you can find is the surely realistic rendering of companions these days (and with the advent of AI slipping in) that makes our future our now when it comes to this kind of bespoke companionship.

I also had occasion to speak to a few interesting ladies out and about, plying their wares in the erotic field.

I spoke with the curvy, tatted, and stunning Taiwan-born beauty Connie Perignon. Graduating Summa Cum Laude from university and once working in high-end marketing, Connie now works as an “internationally acclaimed luxury companion.” She is also an AVN award-nominated adult film star, who has worked with Jules Jordan, Brazzers, and Evil Angel, to name just a few. Connie is thrilled to shoot Gonzo content and loves those camp scenes she has managed for Brazzers especially. Leaving NYC now for LA, this lady who tackles the world with such a sheer confidence, told me she has lots of plans for the fall, among them an art book/magazine, and hopes to get into more mainstream projects.

Find her here:  Connie Perignon (meetperignon.com)

Latina Powerhouse Kiki Klout is featured in and on the May cover of Eroticism Magazine. Starting on Page 26, Kiki’s feature starts with a captivating two-page photo of her in white lingerie crawling across a bed. Her 26-page feature has tons of SFW and NSFW photos shot by Jeff Caso, aka East Coast Celebrity, during EXXXOTICA Chicago last month. 

“I’m so pleased to be on the cover and have such a big feature. The photos are amazing—Jeff did an incredible job capturing me. I hope my fans and the Eroticism Magazine readers enjoy the cover and feature,” she said.

The May 22nd Eroticism Magazine is available for sale at issuu.com/eroticism/docs/eroticism_magazine_may_2023

By the time you read this, it will have passed, but I hope those who attended or those who wished they had will remember well or plan for next year’s DomCon Los Angeles. The premier Professional Domination and BDSM convention happened May 17-21 at the Hilton LAX, 5711 West Century Blvd in Los Angeles.

My friends over at BBWXXXAdventures.com have launched two new channels. Find their enchanting BBWs and the truest best content featuring these beauties now at ManyVids and Loyal Fans?

And another acquaintance of mine, London-based Accredited Advanced GSRD (gender, sex, relationship diversity) therapist, registered psychologist, and sex, intimacy & relationship coach, Dr. Lori Beth Bisbey, is featured in an informative new eBook, Erotically Queer: A Pink Therapy Guide for Practitioners presently available through Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.

And as a personal note and speaking of books: I saw the publication of two of my books recently, both short fiction collections. Here is the link to my cross-genre sci-fi shorts book A Few Wild Beasts to be Dreaded from my UK publisher. Mixed in with the spaceships and time travel are erotica, satire, and a whole bunch of wacky, fantastical stuff.

And here, from a U.S.-based publisher, is my new naughty short fiction collection, Women Spanking Women. From the title, you can plainly see what these stories are about.

Sergio Napoletano: Memory Aisle

By
Ralph Greco
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0

Sergio Napoletano

Memory Aisle

(Sergio Napoletano)

Buy it at Amazon!

As guitarist in Staten Island’s local music scene and making his mark at various acoustic showcases, singer-songwriter Sergio Napoletano has found his stride… as well as it seems his bandmates. With drummer AJ Pantaleo, Will Schalda on piano/keys, and Paul Schalda on guitar, Napoletano delivers the rather perfect 5-song EP Memory Aisle.

The collection opens with the great noisy jangle of big-chorded electric and heavy tom work of “Lockjaw” and the lead vocal slightly buried. Changing up 180, we get the acoustic-led and piano heavy, slower and softer “Kids in the Hall.” Once again, Napoletano keeps his rather strong and dynamic vocal more to the background of the mix, which, of course, draws the listener closer. This is another wonderful little gem of a tune. By the time another of Paul Schalda’s perfectly placed electric lead comes in, we are well on our way.

The even more open-sounding acoustic title track is next, again utilizing Pantaleo’s subtlety, Will Schalda’s piano, and his brother Paul, once again adding soft touches when needed, then a blistering cool lead.

The EP ends as strongly as it began, with a slightly distorted rhythm, a spooky background single note, and a beat that’s there and not there all at the same time. Add in an infectious sing-a-long chorus and we are pretty much haunted right out to the end here with “Pretty Folks.”

Sergio Napoletano is a strong songwriter, the band behind him seemingly locked in with his understated vision and the songs are rendered with a cool vibe but not too cool for its own good, like lots of singer-songwriter stuff can be. Memory Aisle will surely stick in your memory.

Sandflower: The Quantum Seed

By
Ralph Greco
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0

Sandflower
The Quantum Seed
(Sandflower)

Buy it at Amazon!

Naughty rapping in the verses with a cool beat going into a big sing-along chorus on “Quicksand,” featuring Unstoppable Death Machines opens Sandflower’s new The Quantum Seed. A Brooklyn-based genre-fluid artist (although I’m not sure what that term means), the lady in question has some decent pipes, can write some singable choruses, and knows her way around rapping as well as ballad making.

Layering vocals perfectly, “Goddess Cxlture” presents wild synths backing snapping drum machine snares, while “Break My Soul,” offers some high keys under Sandflower’s warble of “oh oh oh’s” in this desperate love tune. I like how things stay kinetic yet soft (mostly); a nice change-up from what came before it,

Again, there is a lot to sing along to here. “Bump” has a cool metallic roll to it, with things staying tight in the beat. “Shake That Boom” is slow, sly, and silly, like the very best flights of nasty fun Prince would trot out every now and again. Again, the vocal is well sung and sexy, the rap fast, and you can twerk to the tune. And, once again, Sunflower delivers a chorus you can sing to.

Lots of space-age sounds run in and around the fantastically fun “Wild Things Are,” with its slightly overproduced chorus, and then the big pop ballad “Don’t Stress” lends itself to some of the best singing here and a UK House Remix of “Break My Soul,” ends The Quantum Seed.

Doug Henthorn: Three

By
Ralph Greco
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0

Doug Henthorn

Three

(Doug Henthorn)

An easy-going conga beat, and a laid-back bending, bird-squeaking electric lead from Travis Feaster floats above Doug Henthorn’s acoustic and strong, expressive vocal on “Set Em Up, Throw Em Back, Knock Em Down,” that opens his new album Three.

Troye Kinnett’s organ and a slightly dirty-sounding lead take us rockin’ harder on “Fate of None,” (one of my more favorites here). Again, Henthorn’s vocal pushes this solid little ditty to the fore. While the next tune “Forewarned and Failing,” is even louder, simpler and oh so much fun, a great big rockin’ barn burner. Great piano here from Kinnett as well!

And we get a real sly blues cover on The Eagles’ “Wasted Time.” What a very cool read on one of my favorite Eagle’s tunes and if I am not mistaken, not so many (if any at all) have attempted to cover this classic. The band outfits themselves step-by-step in the pocket with Henthorn wailing the heart-felt lyric. Great move here by Henthorn and again some wonderful leading by Feaster near the end.

Start and stopping slightly at the beginning, there’s some sweet slide, solid organ and Henthorn tackling another classic, “Across the Universe (man this guy has balls covering the songs he does!). I like Tim Fuller’s subtle bottom end bass here especially.

The nasty staccato drumming beat of “Devil’s Come Home,” ends Three, another great tune on this ten-song album full of them; singable, the players cutting fine and true and a great way to remember spending time with Doug Henthorn and his obvious skills as a musician.

Combinator: re/combinator

By
Ralph Greco
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0

Combinator
re/combinator
(Combinator)

Buy it at Amazon!

The metallic tapping that flows quickly into the heavy stomping of opener “Guest In Your Own Skin” surely grabs the listener by the throat, pretty much as Combinator wants on the new EP re/combinator. Here we have Sean Fairchild, with help from Jesse Holt of Second Coming remixing two tunes and Isaac Chirino lending percussion on one tune. Notably, Combinator is Fairchild’s baby.

The man can snap the bass, that’s for damn sure! “Things That Should Be” shows off Fairchild’s skill and has a slower melody thru-line. It’s a killer track, especially when the noise dies down, and we can hear Fairchild singing and his wacky funk bass energy.

Although the vocals are overprocessed on “Hide and Seek” (maybe they are deliberately hiding?) I like this ballad very much. Again, when Fairchild slows down, he is very effective. He manages some brief rolling bass noodles here, reminding the listener of his bass acumen, but this kind of attention to melody and sweet production showcases more of the man’s talents.

There is an echoey repeat and an almost Lindsey Buckingham approach with a wavery vocal splash on an another wonderful slow one, “Cartoon Character Child.” Those two Jesse Holt mixes come next, the slightly overdriven danceable pair of “Respira” while a big bass poppin’ “Through the Fog (Chi Child Mix)” presents a bluesy end to what I feel is a rather special little EP.

Modern Monsters: Malice

By
Ralph Greco
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0

Modern Monsters
Malice
(Waiting For Peri Records)

Brody Bass’s low bass growl thumps under Josh Weaver’s vocal before the rest of Modern Monsters crash in on “March 3rd, ’91,”, the first of five on the band’s new EP Malice. Heavy as hell, this one has a great rap, cool crunchy guitars from Rich Wells and Wyatt Lennon, and Keenan Tuohy on full-tilt drumming.

Wells and Lennon provide the spikey opening to “Prism,” holding back Tuohy slightly before things explode into a fully driven 3:30 plus minutes. I like this one especially how the band give a good amount of space in the verses while keeping things heavy and tight. The chorus has got a great descending melody hook as well. Very good songwriting here from these monsters.

The guys get positively poppy on “Road to Nowhere,”, again speaking to this band’s ability to find, mine and execute their heavy rockin’ with a good ear on melody. The middle drop out, with bass leading the way and some wild guitar scratching effects makes for a great bridge before the over-the-top guitar lead.

Guitar feedback noise opens “White Rabbit,” a big guitar slicing revisit of the classic Jefferson Airplane hit. This is a hoot, with the guitars really leading the charge with some high-flying stuff, drums and bass locking in on the infamous march and Weaver giving it his best. The leads at the end are killer.

Last tune “Greed Machine,” is a heavy poppy number, another great little gem with a tight melody, good interplay between verse and chorus. I’d say this Malice is very sweet indeed.

Stevie Cornell

By
Ralph Greco
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0

Stevie Cornell

Stevie Cornell

(Stephen Cornell)

Buy it at Amazon!

A great shimmery 50’s torch song “If Cryin’ is a Crime,” goes into a Beatlesque “I Couldn’t Reach You,” with a deceptive snare and pedal steel, begin Stevie Cornell’s self-titled album.  Returning to music after twenty decades, this singer-songwriter-instrumentalist comes by way of both the East Bay 70’s punk band Young Adults and later as a founding member of 80’s top San Francisco Americana band the Movie Stars, here we get Cornell back doing what he really does best.

You really could pick any of these twelve and sit yourself right down on a gem, this man can write and his simple arrangements are pretty much perfect. I just love the love song “Hope Came By Today,” employing, as he does throughout the album, a perfect Everly Brother’s-like harmony, along with the magic this man layers seemingly so effortlessly on his productions.

He then matches this sweet love song with the slow key plodding “Black Hole in My Heart,” and delivers later some Byrds jangle on “Whispering Wind,”

The album picks up on the jaunty electric “Feet First,” with a super wry lyric, Cornell delivering with his tongue perfectly and firmly stuck in his cheek. He manages some very effective guitar leading here as well. In all the catchy melodies, his honest voice and simple solid song-smithing, you may overlook how powerful and fine a guitar player Cornell is.

Piano leads Cornell’s soft, almost crying vocal, in the perfect song “Sarah,” and the whole brew ends, again in a mid-tempo little ditty, “Just A Phase.” A gorgeous and lush album, you really are not going to get any better that Stevie Cornell.

Envy Of None

By
Ralph Greco
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0

Envy Of None

Envy Of None

(KSCOPE)

Buy it at Amazon!

Rush guitarist/songwriter Alex Lifeson has a new band, Envy Of None. Along with Alf Annibalini, Andy Curran, and Maiah Wynne, we definitely get a full band effort here, not just a bunch of players backing up a famous musician. Depending on your point of view, that’s unfortunate or really great news for your ears.

This is an 11-song album full of keyboard swirls, drum programming and the ethereal-sounding vocals of Wynne. And although the songs are deeply layered, the production top notch, there is a sameness to things here that kind of got to me after a while.

The band manages some heavy riffing and a cool drum programming sound on “Spy House,” and here’s also where we get the first of Lifeson’s true leading. “Dog’s Life” is informed by some NIN-like metallics, with the band getting very aggressive, and on the slow, “Kabul Blues,” Lifeson adds some fantastic color playing a volume pedal to the fore. It’s the first real moment I can report where we hear him.

“Dumb,” mines a U2 dance beat, “Enemy,” a heavy metallic percussion bed, and extra loud choruses, and finally we get a Lifeson solo acoustic sweet instrumental, as the last tune, “Western Sunset,” his tribute to Rush drummer Neil Peart.

It’s interesting to note that the Envy Of None project was never supposed to be more than a 4-song EP. I’ll leave it up to you if you feel the full eleven here are worth you time or even envy.

Black Dog String Quartet: A Thousand Times Brighter

By
Ralph Greco
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0

Black Dog String Quartet
A Thousand Times Brighter
(Black Dog String Quartet)

Vancouver’s Black Dog String Quartet—Elyse Jacobson playing violin, Molly MacKinnon on same, John Kastellic on viola (and some lead vocals), Doug Gorkoff playing cello, and Chelsea Rose and Naomi Kavka also on lead vocals—present their new 9-song A Thousand Times Brighter.

A pretty much heartbreaking string layering begins the beginning tune here, “All The Pretty Horses,” A sweet, easy-on-the-ears female vocal brings in the first verse, but then we are back to the layered strings swirl, which just about makes the tune perfect, the high flying violin leading across the top of all of it. There is a wild slicing sawing lead mid-center of the piece before the vocals come back then a real sense of energy closes out the piece.

I like the weird pounding percussion to the next tune, “Two,” as the strings battle Kastellic’s desperate near, shouting vocal. 

Pretty much A Thousand Times Brighter is superb throughout. Black Dog String Quartet knows how to write and deliver actual songs, not just masturbatory ear fodder of string players showing off or pitting instruments against each other. Saying all that, though, it’s the end of these nine where I really got the payoff, with the trio of the string playfulness in recalling love of “In A Dream,” the ‘funky’ blues of “Dizzying View,” complete with horns (not the first time the band adds horns to a song) and Kastellic’s best vocal here in my opinion on the very last, most excellent “Sea of Clover.”

It would certainly be worthwhile to get your hands on Black Dog String Quartet’s A Thousand Times Brighter.

Japanese Snacks and More from Sugoi Mart

By
Short and Sweet NYC
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0
Photo Credit: David Lipp

As someone who loves a good snack, like a snack that is hard to find and not your run of the mill potato chip, candy, or drink, I really love coming across them when I can find them. Browsing the web, I found Sugoi Mart, a Japanese online store, shipping all over the world everything that Japan has to offer. From snacks, chocolates, anime licenses to toys and collectibles, I was greatly surprised at the variety of items the site offered. Their motto is pretty much: You want it? We have it! If we don’t, let us know and we will!

I picked out the Treasure Chest ($40) that was a Japanese snacks and drinks” themed package and placed my order. About two weeks later it arrived, and it was filled with lots of things I’ve never seen before or flavors of candy I knew existed but never had the chance to try.

For me, the sack of Kit Kats was one of the most exciting things in the box, filled with flavors I’ve only seen on the internet, like Pudding, cheesecake, cookies and cream, purple sweet potato, sakura, sake to matcha and a longtime favorite flavor I’ve only come across in Europe, orange chocolate. I’m really looking forward to trying some new and familiar flavors here.

The chips are my next favorite snack I’ll be devouring, which featured a Doritos flavor, Avocado and cheese, I’ve never seen before. Drinks included a Godzilla Energy drink, which I can only imagine has a Godzilla amount of caffeine and sugar and a tea flavored drink in a beautifully designed bottle. Of course, there’s more eclectic items specific to Japan like a bag of beef flavored sticks, a bag of pink rice that is a Sakura Sour Plum Rice Seasoning and Pocky flavored as “Almond Crush.” Lastly, a Pokemon themed ramen cup. I’m loving this box of snacks full of flavors that I may never get to try again, though having a site like Sugoi Mart makes me think otherwise, as it was incredibly easy to order and receive.

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