From: BRIAN (bbaltin_at_earthlink.net)
Date: 2003-04-07 03:43:16
Hello all,
For anyone who wants to make up their own mind about the whole Koop ruckus,
KCRW here in Los Angeles broadcast a video of a live in-studio radio
session. I might as well weigh in on the subject now that I've seen it.
Essentially, I'd say the band was spot-on. No, they're not the greatest jazz
musicians obviously, and they're clearly for the most part just trying to
recreate the sound of the '60s Verve Cal Tjader sessions. But hell, that's a
beautiful thing in its own right. And the track with the (pre-recorded) Mark
Murphy vocals makes for a lovely brew of simmering jazz-house in the best
St. Germain/Llorca/Nick Holder mindset.
As for Yukimi, I have to agree that her vocals absolutely do not work with
the Koop sound, and utilizing her is a horrendous miscalculation. Her vocals
seem stilted, forced, pretentious, jagged, even arythmic and above all else
just plain irritating.While I love plenty of vocalists who push boundaries
in their vocal style (Bebe, Damo Suzuki, Yoko Ono come to mind), whatever
she's trying to do just does not work, and with a sound as deliberately
elegant, urbane and polished as Koop are striving for and attaining
musically, I can't imagine what they're thinking in this choice of vocalist
(at least in her live delivery‹I've heard some quality recorded work of
hers). But the way she butchers "The Creator Has a Master Plan" is criminal
(although admittedly better than the rest of her vocals on the set).
At any rate, the session's in the archives @
This is a great, great resource, as there's a ridiculous wealth of live
sessions catalogued here, including:
Llorca (with the full band), Kinky, Paul Weller, Royksopp, Thievery
Corporation, Weekend Players, Ravi + Anoushka Shankar, Zuco 103,
Moerelenbaum2 + Ryuichi Sakamoto, Beth Orton, Morcheeba, Smokey + Miho,
Cornershop, Badly Drawn Boy, Spiritualized, DJ Shadow, Norah Jones,
Antibalas, Zero 7, Psycho on Da Bus, Four Tet, The Avalanches, The Beta
Band, Si Se, Tom Ze, Cassandra Wilson, The Tindersticks, Matt Johnson, Terry
Callier, Stereolab, State of Bengal, Talvin Singh, Gonzalo Rubalcaba,
Virginia Rodriguez, Dianne Reeves, Finley Quaye, Courtney Pine, Ian Brown,
Omara Portuondo, Aterciopelados, and Medeski, Martin + Wood.
KCRW also offers an equally large amount of interviews and guest DJ spots in
the archives of Chocolate City (if you can deal with a moderately irritating
host in the form of Garth Trinidad) @
http://www.kcrw.org/cgi-bin/db/kcrw.pl?tmplt_type=program&show_code=cc
Catalogued here are spots from:
Julie Dexter, Kerri Chandler, Talib Kweli, Naomo Nsombi, The Angel, Vikter
Duplaix, Bougie Soliterre, Charlie Dark (Attica Blues), Gilles Peterson,
Sarah Jones, Madlib, Jody Watley, Ron Trent, Peven Everett, Cooly's Hot Box,
Blackalicious, ?uestlove, Spacek, Afronaught + Daz-I-Kue (Bugz in the
Attic), Donnie, Les Nubians, Francisco Aguabella, Goapele, Johnny Blas, DJ
Shadow + Cut Chemist, N'Dea Davenport, Femi Kuti, Gav Smith, Jill Scott,
King Britt, Amel Larrieux, The Last Poets, Norman Jay, Oscar Brown Jr.,
Ursula Rucker, Rob Swift, and Tony Allen.
Of course, the KCRW link is also on the Liquidator Graphics Links page,
along with 110 other lovely sites @
http://www.liquidatorgraphics.com/links/links_home.htm
Respectfully,
Brian Baltin
Aesthetic Rejuvenator
*
http://www.liquidatorgraphics.com/