From sm Sent Thu, Nov 6th 1997, 08:33
From sm Sent Thu, Nov 6th 1997, 08:33
Adam J Weitzman wrote:
> OK, I can't possibly be the only idiot who can't find this review. (In fact, it seems
>like half the content on this site is invisible.) What's a direct URL to it?
'k, here it is for all & sundry:
U-Ziq / Jega / AFX - Mini Mealtime Sampler 12" [Planet Mu PULPDJ6]
Finally got round to listening to this gastronomic delight after an hour spent cracking
up at the new Black Grape tour video, though i have to say i’m not too keen on their
lumpen quasi-funk , the musicians are just too damn professional & Danny Saber seems to
be steering them in a sane & workmanlike direction
In stark contrast the great thing about the Happy Mondays was that they managed to
combine football hooligan underclass cool with an undisciplined [instinctive rather than
contrived] 'finger on the pulse'-musical melting pot [funk/punk/house/psychedelia] ,
anyone who was involved in the heady days of late 80’s equity [c Jack Barron] culture
will recognise the part ‘Wrote For Luck’ [Vince Clarke remix & especially the
nightclub set video] played in breaking the ‘acid house’ thang out of the capitals and
turning provincial / student crowds on their heads
[Vid top moments] Sean coming over all philosophical about carbon dating techniques &
managing to look / sound wasted for the entire 60mins, Bez - "don’t film this jacket,
someone will recognise it" & Sean introducing the bemused president of Rizla to
entourage - "this is Mr. Skin"
Anyway back to my 'Mini Mealtime', housed in an incongruous scrawled on sleeve, this is
a taster for the long awaited ‘drill n bass’ compilation that Mike has had simmering on
the hob for the past year and a half [right Steve;], 4 exclusive tracks [and no i don’t
know if they will feature on the album], 2 from Mr. Paradinas and one contribution each
from techno chums Richard ‘AFX’ James & Dylan ‘Jega’ Nathan.
I’ve already aired my reservations about any attempts to lump a tenuously related group
of artists under one generic catch-all [usually as marketing strategy rather than
through any noble idea of mutual artistic benefit], this approach generally begats a
horde of neophytic lesser talents artists who end up producing tracks to 'fit' a genre’s
unspoken or perceived criteria, hoping that once they 'make the right noises in the
right place', their material will be rendered as aesthetically valid as the innovative
artists who sparked the whole thing off in the first place, but grumbles aside for the
moment, it’s Mr. D. James who pulls the cat out of the bag on this occasion with a track
that smothers from the outset any ‘drill n bass’ preconceptions, ‘Bummy’ grooves funkily
on tactile multi layered drum patterns with a sinewy moog bass line & urgent viola
brush strokes, feet lightly step on a ‘cry baby’ whilst subliminal aural images of
Stevie Wonder jamming with Neu! invade head space
On the other hand Mikey P prosiacly treads down well-worn footpaths, safe but
predictable, you know where you are going and plenty people have been here before,
‘Brace Yourself’ [Remix] is 'appy 'ardkore double-take, ultra-cheesed one finger
melodies & amphetamine - fuelled breaks, ‘Mr.Angry’ [Remix] is entirely that, a
dysfunctional barrage of drum n bass that assaults the senses with a brief respite that
serves no other purpose but to usher in kitchy demonic screams, as Mr Brown put it -
"talking loud, saying nothing"
Jega’s ‘Dmc’ [live mix] , either a nod to Mixmag’s parent company [responsible for
commissioning surely some of the worst remixes known to man or beast] or t’other half of
Run DMC, replaces rimshots with gunshots and flies off on a raggamuffin tip, like a gang
of yardies on a bank job, ruff raw drums & elephantine bass stick guns in your face and
take no shit, half way in drums strangely sink into a quagmire of treated whirling
wurlitzer organ, deflating the whole operation in a New Scotland yard style sting.
Bring on the album Mike, 1998 sometime?
[sm]
--
http://dialspace.dial.pipex.com/mfr/
[elecktronic label]
[esoteric, non-generic material wanted]
" Basically the message is: Steal It! Art, music,
culture, the odd book and the slab of cheese...
the new will be built upon the ruins of the old. "
-Buenaventura Durruti