****WARNING; POTENTIALLY CONTROVERSIAL REVIEWS AHEAD!!!****
1. Roni Size and Raprazent: In The Mode. OK, this is the 1, my recommended pick of the winter (so far!) Supersonic beats and a lot of crazy mad brilliant musical ideas. And, just some plain great songs here, too, ("Lucky Pressure" "Who Told You?") And, how could you not love a band that brags about selling out shows, getting the money, and then cancelling?!? New formulas causing you to move around.
The low-light? Who is Zack DelaRocha, and why does anyone care? I can think of about 3 kids on my block who qualify as better MC's than him; "The critics rush me like... Salmon Rushdie".... oh, that is horrible. But, I highly recommend this LP, nonetheless. (Beware, another x-rated misogynist flow from Method Man lies within.)
2. Jazzanova, The Remixes 1997-2000. Perhaps the most talked about release on the AJ list? Well, one good thing about it is it's very easy to find a copy. You might even be able to get it at Walmart! This is a double CD from a crew of German DJ's who boast, "There are no musicians anywhere... it's all samples." Pretty impressive, as it does sound like somebody's playing something. (I guess we've crossed into total absurdity now; i.e. finding roses so beautiful they look more like paintings and paintings so beautiful they look more like roses....)
Metaphysics aside, perhaps the most amazing thing about it is the incredible sound quality, especially of the drum kits and the percussion. (There's alot of sonic uniformity from track to track, which makes me think they've cut up a few of their favorite breaks and used them over and over, as well as treated them to some high-end signal processing, aka Lexicon, Neve/ Pultec EQ, and the like.) The 1 word to describe it? Warm. In fact, I don't think I've ever heard percussion sound so tasty and toasty. The "Circles" King Britt-Ursula Rucker remix positively tickles your ears, its so delicious. And, you've got the Rhodes swirls, the upright basses, hey are these guys really German? Like from the same country Richard Wagner is from? Who told you you could do it like that?
Now, does this record pass the stringent T-Bird dance and listen test? Could be, but quite frankly, for me, it's more fun to listen to, and it works just as well at 7 am or 2 pm, low volume or high, and its as addictive as.... (insert addictive substance of choice here.)
3. Photek, Solaris. Not 1, but 2 House trax? I want my money back!!! Just kidding, cuz if you bypass those sorry cutz, you've got some outrageous tribal amazon rhythm machine programming here. Some of it strikes me as a bit self-indulgent, and it can be hella repetitious, but if you're in the right mood, or mode, as it were, there's some pretty intense banging here, as advertised. Just make sure you've got your hand on the remote control to fast forward and/or autolocate as needed.
4. MJ Cole, Sincere. OK, so this is 2 step? Well, I think e:trinity's tracks are getting just as good, if not better, and the price is nicer! Sincere is an uneven record, and some of this is so slick and syrupy smooth it makes Robert Miles sound heavy as Beethoven's Hammerklavier sonata.
The 2 step groove as laid out by Cole is sparse and hyper-syncopated, but the drum tones are so featherweight it sounds like the whole thing could've been programmed on a Casio CTK 631 keyboard with the "swing-quantize" function set just short of maximum.
That said, there are some great songs, memorable in fact; the title track (also remixed on the aformentioned Jazzanova disc), and the very nice, very soulful "Love Opened My Eyes." Yeah, that's up to par with the late 80's Soul 2 Soul Karyn Wheeler stuff definitely. Overall though, I'd say this genre will still have to wait for it's definitive Sgt. Peppers.
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