Italian producer Bob Rifo makes punky dance music under his pseudonym Bloody Beetroots. What’s it worth? Not a great deal, although fans of Steve Aoki’sDim Mak label will enjoy. Read my review here or below.
Steve Aoki-approved Italian electronic producer, Bob Rifo, better known as his Bloody Beetroots alter-ego, certainly has a wealth of cool to cash in on. His new album, Romborama, is out on Steve Aoki’s Dim Mak label (Aoki himself puts in an appearance on the song “Warp 7.7”), and notables like The Cool Kids, The Locust’s Justin Pearson, and Vicarious Bliss all help out to propel these fast and furious dance tracks along.
But hell, Justice did what the Beetroots are doing without any guest spots at all a few years ago, and managed to do it damn well. And herein rests the problem. Yes, the Beetroots’ amalgamation of electro, techno, house music, disco, and what the press release sentimentally calls “punk” is spot-on in terms of energy, rhythm, and well-placed breakdowns. But you’ve heard it all before. So the question remains: if this is just a rehash of the same old neo-club anthems that are blasting through Cobrasnake-patrolled hot spots every night of the week, but the production is on point, is it worth an hour of your time? At times, no – for instance, “Awesome,” featuring the Cool Kids, is a trite excursion into acid synth waves and forgettable lyrics. On the other hand, “Have Mercy On Us,” a riff on classical music conventions, feels relatively fresh and inspired.
So the Beetroots new album is something of a mixed bag. The best thing to do is take it for what it is – a not always original, and sometimes vacuous, collection of bass-heavy dance tracks – and just enjoy the ride.
By now, it’s sort of a given – anything released under the auspices of Canadian label/collective Arts & Crafts is going to be pretty good. Whether it’s an album from Broken Social Scene, Stars, or any of their members’ and friends’ various solo efforts, at the very worst the music will be competently boring. But more often than not, it’s vibrant, textured, engaging, and musically rich. All of this can be said in regards to The Most Serene Republic’s third album, …And The Ever Expanding Universe, a record that bridges the gap between traditional, expansive Built to Spill-referencing indie rock and spacey Mew-style progressive experimentation.
The Most Serene Republic’s sound is twitchy and prodigious, but transitions between parts are smooth and, even at their most introspective and melancholic (“All Of One is The Other”), songs never meander for too long. From the soaring lead track (“Bubble Reputation”) onwards, vocalists Adrian Jewett and Emma Pitchburn create an interplay that is poppy and smart. In between their singing, the various members’ excellent musicianship does the talking. Waves of piano, horns, strings, and orchestral punctuation accent and enhance an instrumental song like “Patternicity,” but it’s purposeful rather than precious.
This is a band obviously infatuated with the craft of songwriting and melodic construction, but willing to bend the rules as it sees fit in order to advance beyond the expected. …And The Ever Expanding Universe may be a reference to the existential and the cosmic, but it certainly also pertains to the musical world of the album’s creators.
My August edition of Glaciers of Ice, a monthly hip-hop roundup, is running today right here. Read it now. (Full text below).
RIP Baatin! The Slum Village member was found dead at his home this week. The cause of death is unknown at this time, though the medical examiner has apparently ruled out foul play. Baatin had recently rejoined SV, bringing his nasal and eloquent flow back to the heralded group. We’ll miss you.
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Dynamics Plus is kind of a nerd. On his albums C.H.A.O.S. Legions I and II, the MC/ producer has created a World of Warcraft-style hip-hop scenario, or something right out of 300. Tales of Roman battlefields and futuristic Centurions are spun over big and sometimes eerie beats. This is D&D rap for role players. But even at its most serious, it seems clear that Dynamics is having fun with the characters he is creating. Besides, horrorcore is so early ’90s – the future is RPG-core.
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La Coka Nostra is a super-group consisting of a bunch of three angry white rappers and one angry, rock-influenced white DJ – Everlast, Danny Boy (former members of House of Pain), Ill Bill (via Non Phixion), Slaine, and Lethal (also House of Pain). And anger is indeed the tone on much of the album. Even the soft guitars of the Everlast-produced “The Stain,” which starts out as a throatily-crooned ballad, erupt into hard-rocking tension. The best moments come on songs like “Bang Bang,” a more straight hip-hop number buoyed by Snoop Dogg’s presence. Unfortunately, the album misses the mark repeatedly with its attempts to combine cheesy rock and mediocre hip-hop.
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UK MC Juice Aleem has released one of the summer’s most eclectic and interesting hip-hop albums. Jerusalaam Come (Big Dada) combines reggae, dub, electro, and hip-hop (not necessarily in that order), creating the best mash-up of Caribbean and old-school NYC styles since Roots Manuva’s Run Come Save Me. The album’s opening track, “First Lesson,” finds Aleem rapping and scatting over a stuttering, staccato bassline, infusing the proceeding songs with a burst of creative energy. “Rock My Hologram” is weird, warped futuristic phaser sounds, while “U4Mi” is softer, almost r’n’b-style rap. But however he cuts it, Aleem succeeds.
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Two new releases, courtesy of E1 Entertainment, arrived last month from the wonderfully off-kilter soul and hip-hop power couple, Georgia Anne Muldrow and Dudley Perkins. Muldrow has been getting a bit more notice recently – she guest-appeared on Erykah Badu and Mos Def’s new solo albums. With her second solo release, Umsindo, she proves her creative mettle and earns her kudos, although songs do tend to blend into each other in terms of pace and sound. Still, Muldrow’s funky production and beautiful voice (and capable rhyming, when she is so inclined) make this album shine. Perkins, on the other hand, focuses much more on rhyming than singing. Muldrow handles the production here, and the beats all consist of her signature slinky, writhing funk. Since his days recording with The Alkoholiks and Madlib, Perkins has provided one of the most unique voices to come out of Southern California, a trend that continues on Holy Smokes.
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Remember Us3? In 1993, they burst onto the jazz-hip-hop fusion scene with Cantaloop, and then promptly sank back into obscurity. If “Flip Fantasia” still rings a bell, you may be interested in checking out their new self-released album, Stop.Think.Run. Producer Geoff Wilkinson is joined by a couple of young New York MC’s, Brook Yung and Sene, as he attempts to update his Jazzmatazz-style sound. It works nicely, but to be honest, this kind of jazzy hip-hop isn’t all that interesting anymore.
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Finally, famed producer James Poyser has a new album out with his new project, The Rebel Yell, a collaboration with Khari Ferrari, called Love & War (Rapster). The press release calls it “misfit r’n’b,” and this might actually be a good description. Rapper Dice Raw (of The Roots), and singers Nikki Jean and Domini Quinn SupaStar join Poysner on this electro and house-tinged effort, full of fast-paced beats and sweeping synths.
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That’s all for now, so until next month… e-mail with thoughts and insults, and send me yer shit! I’ll listen to it. Glaciers is ghost like Casper.
I reviewed Scott Hardkiss’s new album, Technicolor Dreamer, for Blurt recently. I’ll let my words do the talking, as they should, about this mediocre effort:
Scott Hardkiss has made his name producing and DJing acid house, techno, and breakbeats all over the world, along with fellow Hardkiss members Gavin and Robbie. On his debut for his own God Within imprint, Scott attempts to enhance and expand his repertoire by singing, rapping, and playing a variety of instruments on a collection of songs that range from electro-pop to electro-funk to electro-tech.
Unfortunately, the music is full of clichés (like Alvin and the Chipmunks-pitched vocals over the funk numbers) and cheesy programming and synth sounds, turning what could be an eclectic mix informed by a veteran DJ into an exercise in how not to make an album. The occasional song offers a breezy party vibe, like the disco-influenced “Hey Deejay!”, but even this feels unfocused and lazy. It appears Scott Hardkiss is much more capable as a spinner of records than he is a songsmith.
The Beastie’s 1994 classic, Ill Communication, has been reissued as a remastered “deluxe” edition, complete with a bonus disc of remixes and B-sides. Dated? Sure. But it still sounds good. Read my review below:
The Beastie Boys classic 1994 release, Ill Communication, was indisputably a milestone for the group. After the frenzied sample-fest of 1989’s Paul’s Boutique, Check Your Head introduced the world to a new and improved Beastie Boys in 1992. Although hip-hop remained the binding force, MCA, Adrock, and Mike D proudly showcased their punk-rock roots by playing and sampling their own instruments on most of the tracks, simultaneously exploring funk and lounge. Ill Communication, now in full re-mastered glory, continued this trend, with hardcore rave-ups like “Heart Attack Man” buttressed up against Buddhist mediations like “Bodhisattva Vow” and the happy-go-lucky hip-hop of “Get It Together” (featuring Q-Tip at his carefree finest). And let us not forget that this was the album which spawned one of their biggest hits to date, the ‘70s-punk-funked “Sabotage,” and its MTV-dominating video directed by Spike Jonze.
Sure, it all sounds a bit dated now, but I can remember how much this album excited me at the time. The Beasties were masters at splicing genres without ever sounding cheesy (well, most of the time), something not many hip-hop groups can do these days. Mario Caldato’s production work fused the futuristic-for-their-time sounds the band was exploring with a lo-fi, almost DIY aesthetic. Everything was coated with distortion – vocals, bass, even drums were blown out the house. Yet songs like “Root Down” and “Alright Hear This” were crisp, clean visions of NYC/LA rap music that were executed brilliantly.
The bonus disc contains some worthy remixes, including The Prunes’ dark, 1990s version of “Root Down” and their European B-Boy mix of “Sure Shot.” Also included are several live tracks – most notably a killer version of Check Your Head’s “The Maestro.” “Mullet Head,” previously available on the Clueless soundtrack (and credited by some as bringing the concept of the mullet to the masses – thanks, Beasties), is another standout. The inevitable question posed by any reissue is if the album stands the test of time. In Ill Communication’s case, the answer is yes.
Bjork’s new album, Voltaic, a live CD/DVD combo, is sonically and visually spectacular. I know her last record, Volta, wasn’t in many people’s top-ten lists, but give those songs, as well as her entire catalogue, a fresh listen in this live setting. Read my review below.
Watching the DVD portion of Bjork’s new live album, Voltaic, it’s fun to imagine her aging into a bizarro-world version of Etta James. As a pop singer, Bjork arguably matches James’ tunefulness and iconography, and the two women are both masters of a unique version of show-woman-ship. But age takes its toll. At a live appearance at the Hollywood Bowl last year, James was randy, possibly drunk, and though she remained seated, exuberant in her performance for one so, shall we say, seasoned. Her singing was also as close as possible to pitch perfect. On Voltaic, Bjork, of course, matches James’ mellifluousness, but she injects her show with energy and color – literally, from the stage lighting to the vibrant bird costumes to her manic dancing – unmatched in today’s pop performances. Bjork is only in her early forties, after all, while James is in her seventies. Still, one can imagine Bjork continuing on for another 40 years to become the elder stateswoman of abstract electronic pop music, giving her live show everything until all she can do is sit on a chair, possibly drunk, and entertain.
Bjork’s live ensemble recreates songs from throughout her entire catalogue with creativity and rigor. From newer, dancier numbers like “Wanderlust” and “Declare Independence” to the orchestral majesty of “Joga” to classics like “Army of Me,” Bjork and her merry band of drums, horns, backup singers, and electronic musicians manage to bring an almost improvisational feeling while still nearly matching the albums note-for-note. Synthetic and organic are matched effortlessly, as programmed beats and electronic creations one may have never seen used on stage before blend seamlessly with voice, percussion, and brass.
One can purchase Voltaic in a variety of forms – audio CD only, CD and DVD, or several CDs and DVDs along with some vinyl. I would recommend at least getting a version with one DVD since the live footage is so excitingly shot. This is also another chance for the Volta naysayers to give Bjork’s most recent album another shot. Perhaps hearing some of these songs rendered live will change opinions, perhaps not. But the overall quality of Voltaic’s sound is a prime example of how a live album should be produced, reason enough to listen to this album. Here’s looking forward to many more years of Bjork.
This past Memorial Day, I attended the World Beard and Mustache Championships in Anchorage, Alaska. It’s hard to sum up how incredibly bizarre and fun this experience was in just a few words, so let me direct you to my article for Blurt, which you can read here. Lots of pics to peruse as well. Enjoy.
Ever heard of samba soul? I hadn’t, until this compilation, Black Rio 2 (Strut Records), hit my desk. DJ Cliffy compiles the best of the Brazilian genre from the ’70s. Read my review here.
Jonah Flicker 