We Were Wet When

“The mystery—as mysteries do—deepens. The mystery takes on a strange, persistent odor. The mystery abruptly stands, paces the room. Makes you nervous. Then it grows on you. Grows all over you. Makes you expectant. Ready, anxious. You can’t tell. Hungry, confused.

First, this press release last week:

Skip Lotem disappeared from El Paso, Texas in June 2009. He was scheduled to visit the studio with his longtime recording partner Doug Doug, but when the time came for the two to hit the studio Skip Lotem never showed up.

“skip never showed up to those final sessions. either way, we do know that skip was in or around the el paso, texas area the last time he was spotted. that was at the end of 2008. i don’t know what happened to him. i was looking forward to a sequel version to our hit ‘rub the pug’. we joked about it. i miss skip.” -doug doug

But if there’s one thing we know about Skip & Doug it is that you cannot trust press releases from either camp. In fact, I’ll go ahead and say it—you can’t trust Skip or Doug period. I wouldn’t leave a pug alone with either one of them. I wouldn’t give them a key to my house or whisper them a secret. But man oh man-o what I would do is anything that might make them get the hell back in the studio. I can still remember where I was when I first heard “Rub the Pug”—how my toes felt like they were on fire. How my eyes watered, and I was transported another place, a place almost like childhood or a perfect dreamlike memory of connectivity but not quite like either of those things. Shinier than those things, more glistening. And then “Suck My Face.” There are on dance floors across this globe many skins of mine shed and likely still animated by and bumping to that infectious groove, mouthing those delirious, almost dangerous lyrics. And then “Suck My Face Part Two.” Let’s just say I have been made wet. The whole world is wet. Song-wise, the growers were their acoustic ventures—an almost disarming amount of—what can I call it??—soul? Insight into the origin of the species, human consciousness?? Something. Really something.

And that’s why there is so much “buzz” concerning persistent rumors that Skip Lotem and Doug Doug are indeed, at this moment, en collabo flagrante. Can it be true?? And if—the Groove willing—they are working on a new project—(the mind spasms) what the heck could it be??? What new music, new tricks, new purpose might be wrapped around their toned forearms, up under designer sleeves????? But as these questions escalate toward inner hysteria, another voice comes out of the blue to calm the perturbations. Two voices in fact. Melodious, dulcet calls. Very familiar. Reminding. To be. To know. To let. To groove. All the things Skip and Doug have been saying all along, the mountaintop coming into view.

Skip and Doug are right there. Here. Where they’ve always been.”

—Gannymede Stalwart, New Music Express