One day I will tell the whole story on this web site, when I have time, but for now I'll just say that I was guitarist for the Los Angeles band, Sci-Fi Lullaby from 2001-2002 and it was a life-changing experience. Sci-Fi Lullaby songs are some of the best songs I've ever heard. Much later, in 2011 in fact, I wanted to study synth pop a la Duran Duran and Depeche Mode more carefully. I decided that I would do just as well to really learn everything about Sci-Fi's music and I did that by transcribing their biggest hits along with my friend, music mentor, and co-author, Alan Deane. The resulting song book, Sci-Fi Lullabies: The Music of Art Martinez and Anthony P. Rodriguez is available at Lulu.com.
Read The Introduction to the Book
Here's the introduction to the Sci-Fi Lullaby songbook:
Introduction
Sci-Fi Lullaby is one of the band names used by songwriting and recording duo Art Martinez and Anthony P. Rodriquez, a pair of musical geniuses from Whittier, California. The bands they formed may have been officially known as Janitor, Loveless, Ultrahorse, and Sci-Fi Lullaby but in all of their incarnations, it was always Art and Anthony that provided the melodies, chord progressions, lyrics, and most importantly, the magic that makes their music so special.
If you are reading this you are either already in-the-know or about to be introduced to these amazing, prolific songwriters. Consider yourself lucky.
The cover art for the album The Pleasure and Pain of an Automobile (1997) depicts two men sitting in a car with steering wheels on both the left and right sides. On the left, or North American driving side, is seated a Jesus figure casually gazing towards the heavens. On the right, or English driving side, a well dressed but evil looking horned man is also looking upwards but with sunglasses on to protect him from the brightness above. Locally-minded citizens of the United States, especially those from the midwest and south, might assume that Jesus is driving because he is on the “correct” driving side. Yet, he’s clearly not paying attention to the road, perhaps allowing faith to guide him, whereas the devil figure evokes a quiet confidence at the wheel and he at least thinks he is in charge. There is no sign of a road or even land in the cloudy background, so it’s reasonable to believe the car is either ascending to heaven or descending from heaven. A keen observer would argue that since the car is a bright blood red color, it must belong to the devil. Sure enough, flipping the album over reveals Jesus accepting a smoke from the devil who is all too happy to help his new friend light up.
That cover artwork is a perfect representation of Art and Anthony’s musical collaboration. This partnership led the once-innocent, religiously raised and amiable Art Martinez, to be corrupted by the free thinking, sharp-tongued yet still amiable Anthony P. Rodriguez. Together they created music never before so beautifully crafted.
A Wounded Party
Art Martinez's solo band, "A Wounded Party" is also featured in the song book, where we included transcriptions for the first four songs they released.