James Pants

Like a lot of people, James Pants is mining early R&B-inflected synth pop and hip-hop for sonic inspiration. But for all his heisting of tricks from Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Flash, ESG and Liquid Liquid, Pants takes what some might consider a retro sound and reworks it using modern technology that...

By Tom Murphy

December 17, 2009

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Like a lot of people, James Pants is mining early R&B-inflected synth pop and hip-hop for sonic inspiration. But for all his heisting of tricks from Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Flash, ESG and Liquid Liquid, Pants takes what some might consider a retro sound and reworks it using modern technology that wouldn't have been available thirty years ago. But he doesn't just lovingly evoke musical ideas from times past; he uses them to create atmospheric music that is at once heady and gently drifty. While his music isn't strictly psychedelic, those who appreciate the swirling sonic colors of garage rock-based psychedelia will appreciate Pants's use of dance music as a foundation. Touring in support of Seven Seals, he takes the themes of the Apocalypse and turns them all into lounge music with undertones of menace.

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Tom Murphy is a writer, visual artist and musician from Aurora, Colorado. He was a prolific music writer for Westword and a documenter of the Denver music scene.

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