Skint (Skint, UK) *brassic beats vol. 1* is a solid, highly creative
compilation. I have not been picking up Skint singles because I did not
know much about the label so I took a listen to their "best of" from their
first eleven 12"s. Well, it is pretty damn good. First, I thought I'd give
a nod to Bentley's Rhythm Ace as they produced the jazziest stuff.
"Bentley's Gonna Sort You Out" is smooth and "This Is
Carbootechnodiscotechnobooto" is a funny and groovy send up of 60's rhythm,
jazz drumming and drum n bass. Norman Cook as Fat Boy Slim adds three
tracks and "Santa Cruz" is a brilliant reconstruction of the Rolling Stones
"Can't Always Get What You Want" or whatever its called. Damian Harris (who
worked with Norman Cook in Beats International) as Midfield General adds
some decent tracks. Anafey's "Hip Optimist" is an excellent acid jazz track
and I now would like to hear the UNKLE remix of this (actually it gets a
little housey at the end but that is what makes this compilation good--they
keep things moving in all directions). Cut Le Roc brings cut and paste as
well as quick mixing into the mid 90's with some entertaining bits. And
finally the most creative track of this very creative collection is Leuroj's
"Rainchant" (electronic noodling and beats for a while and then some pretty
cool tribal chanting and heavier beats).
Legato *Wonderland* is nothing to waste bandwidth over. Fairly bland vocal
jazzy soul (its been done before and better). If you really love this kind
of stuff and you don't have much music and its real cheap and parts of
your left brain are slightly off you might consider this.
Up, Bustle and Out's "Dance of Caravan Summer" 12" (Ninjatune, UK) is pretty
good. It contains a good meld of beats with excellent flamenco guitar. I
really loved this the first few listens but I later decided that the vocal
sample did not quite work (although it does not hurt the song). The remix
and the jam session are OK but nothing too radically different from the
basic track. If you can dance with a rose in your mouth you'll love this 12".
Fleetingly,
Jim // J Wes // Jim Westrich
"Powerful music is easy to sing" -- Pacific Gas and Light
"I would like to patent and trademark communism in Russia"
--Stephen J. Raphael, talking head and future saint
_____
CCC home page:
http://www.uic.edu/~westrich