I'd have to say that the Afronaught LP is a bit like the other side
of the coin from the NSM LP. Where the NSM album is totally
consistent with the sound (obviously all the tracks were done within
the same period at the studio), the afronaught album varies
considerably from track to track. Some of the cuts (transcend me) are
two years old! I suspect that Take U There and The Beaujolais Files
are considerably newer material, as the engineering is *massively*
higher quality on the newer songs.
The NSM LP is a very compact statement. IG is pushing his agenda, his
sound, and showing his full range isn't really an issue. It reminds
me a bit of the way Eric Dolphy was pushing his sound (outward bound,
etc). Dolphy was very conscious of the fact that his music did *not*
fit into the lineage of straight jazz and had the audacity to say
that he was working toward something different. The NSM LP has scads
of this (just listen to the lyrics). I really can't help but look at
it in the context of a jazz album.
This strikes me as a bit odd, because I've played the hell out of IG
Culture's earlier stuff - I feel like he made a deliberate move away
from the dance floor, which I can understand. Posterity, right? Maybe
IG thinks dance tunes don't hold up too well over the years, and thus
he left the ruff tunes off his masterpiece LP.
The Afronaught LP is all over the damn place, but has a great funky
sensibility that translates from tune to tune. There is a thread
between the anthem-styled Take U There and ruff ruff nasty Work It.
Orin is just heavy on that drum programming. I did notice Seiji's
name all over the credits - I wonder what exactly he was working on?
Anyhow, Orin doesn't seem to care if the whole thing fits together
perfectly, it's not that cohesive. But his songwriting is bad as hell
- so it's a singles album right?
I will say this, what the Afronaught lacks in weight (the NSM is one
*heavy* album) it makes up for in sheer musical pleasure. Orin is out
there to make you dance. I don't see myself playing the NSM album out
on a gig - it's been relegated to my home listening indefinitely. The
Afronaught, on the other hand, will stay in my crate for a long long
time. The cuts are strong on their own, they don't need to refer to
each other. They're experimental and creative without being
heavy-handed. Four stars to both. Both records from righteously
talented musicians.
cheers,
.aaron shinn
At 10:36 AM -0700 8/3/01, stephanie wrote:
>You are probably right and the only reason i haven't
>piped in about it is that i just moved and my
>turntables are still in cases buried under mountains
>of crap and the only listens I've given it have been
>during gigs, and it's hard to concentrate on how it
>really sounds. but yes, duly noted and acknowledged,
>3 cheers for Afronaught. I suspect that it is as good.
>
>--- Dirk van den Heuvel <dirkv@groovedis.com> wrote:
>> I like most of the NSM album a lot. But I think the
>> Afronaught album is just
>> as good if not better and it doesn't seem to be
>> getting discussed nearly as
>> much. Any opinions on the new Afronaught album??
>
>
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Aug 03 2001 - 20:56:55 CEST