Re: New Purchases: MJ Cole, Photek, Roni Size, Jazzanova

From: Elson Trinidad (elson@westworld.com)
Date: Fri Dec 08 2000 - 18:45:31 CET

  • Next message: Jason Witherspoon: "Re: New Purchases: MJ Cole, Photek, Roni Size, Jazzanova"

    > Steve Catanzaro wrote:
     
    > 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"....

    Zack De La Rocha is, oh wait, WAS the political activist-cum-singer (in that
    order) of Rage Against The Machine. The tune for me was strange cos here's a guy
    from a rap/metal band from Los Angeles, talking about the state of affairs on
    the streets of New York (there's lots of references to Rudolph Guiliani, Amadu
    Diallo, etc), on the album from a drum n bass group from Bristol, England. The
    lyrics are profound, but I doubt that kids in London or Bristol or Tokyo would
    really care or understand.

     oh, that is horrible. But, I highly
    > recommend this LP, nonetheless. (Beware, another x-rated misogynist flow from
    > Method Man lies within.)

    I do agree that most of the guest tracks suck. The Zack De La Rocha track
    ("Centre of the Storm" makes me think "Mosh Pit" and high-pitched whiny MC
    vocals doen't really fit in Drum N Bass...conversely the Method Man braggadoccio
    doesn't fit either. I like skipping those tracks. I do dig the Rahzel track
    though...even though it's light on substance, imagine Rahzel singing the tune
    into a mic....

     
    > 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."

    I don't have the album YET, but on that statement: BS!!!! Someone's got to be
    playing that Rhodes...

    > 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.

    Thanks for the props, but if it weren't for Matthew J. Coleman, I probably
    wouldn't be doing my 2-step tracks today. I don't mind the smoothness; Elizabeth
    Troy's vocals are amazingly expressive, and are more dimensional than that of
    the usual cliche house diva. And that MC who does the ragga-like vocals was a
    little annoying at first, but I got into it. MJ has long had Sir Gilles
    Peterson's Seal of Approval, and we all know the great G does no wrong.
     
    > 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.

    Akai MPC3000 to be exact. But if you think the drums are featherweight, that
    just gives more opportunity for the remixes.

    Overall though, I'd say this genre will
    > still have to wait for it's definitive Sgt. Peppers.

    It's not the "Sgt Pepper's" of 2-Step, it's the "Meet The Beatles." This is the
    first-ever full-length album from a single artist in the 2SG genre, obviously
    it's up to a lot of scrutiny. Like "Meet The Beatles," it's got all the hits, so
    just enjoy it.

    -- 
    

    - 30 -

    :. elson trinidad, los angeles, california, usa :. elson@westworld.com :. www.westworld.com/~elson "music is a form of rapid transportation" - john cage

    [ the futurethnic beats of e:trinity - www.e-trinity.org ]



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