(no subject)
Review01:
Aaron Spectre - Evil Most Foul (Death$ucker Records) - On paper, this should kinda suck. We all know how popular and cool it is to bash the recent ragga jungle revivial as an instance of white, middle-class computer nerds reappropriating Black proletarian culture (Mssr. Fringeli, we are looking at you). And being popular and cool is where it's at, especially when, well, the criticism is entirely accurate. Sure, Amen Andrews and co. make fucking wicked music but divorced from the original context the music was made in, it just becomes an exercise in empty formalism, a pastiche of amens and patois to get the kids moving, cut off from any kind of oppositional or political force.
That's not to say that the old skool junglist massif were hurling paving stones at cops or igniting shopping malls, but simply to observe that, like so many other forms of Black musical culture, ragga jungle was initially a genre of music made predominantly by poor people of colour. It was partially a response to the exclusivity of the white rave scene (as i understand it, at least). Later, it too became hip as the culture industry clamoured for another Black-made musical commodity to sell off to its jaded consumers: "Hip! Authentic! New!" Jungle follows in the footsteps of blues, jazz, rock, reggae, hip-hop, garage and others i'm sure i'm forgetting: moments of musical and cultural experimentation ripped from their context and sold as commodity (something all the more necessary within electronic music, given the often accelerated pace of production and distribution: "grime", take note).
So some people made some cash at it and, like any other commodity sold as a fad, it was subsequently consigned to the dustbin of rave history. 10+ years later and IDM'mers who grew up on 90's rave start a nostalgia kick and suddenly it's big again. A revival of an appropriation, but this time with even less context or content. Ostensibly political breakcore artists can toss in acapellas with the most insane homophobic or sexist shit over their (admittedly awesome) ear-splitting post-jungle. Why? Because that vocal is fucking WICKED, man.
Really then, this shouldn't work. Spectre's a white dreadlocked dude who (apparently) has an abiding love of punk rock and hardcore. This ought to be the poster-child for the millennium's tired (re)discovery of old ragga jungle. More than that, you've got song titles like "Look Out Fi Liar" and (wait for it) "Mordor", which made me envision inspirational Gandalf quotes over spoooooky synth stabs and tweaked breaks. Open and shut, right? Stupid movie samples, affected patois spelling and a dreadlocked sexy-punky whiteboy selecta? Case closed, file next to whatever disposable ragga shit is making the rounds on slsk this week.
But, shit, this record is awesome.
"Look Out Fi Liar" is this total burner with really awesome drum programming and a nice twinkly piano sound hiding just below the mix. And, yeah, the vocal is pretty happening too. I don't know what to say about this song aside from saying it's a particularly adept and danceable instance of the scenario i laid out above. That doesn't really do it justice though, as i've been listening to this track on repeat for most of the summer. But y'know i'm pretty fucking fat and i contain multitudes. Do i contradict myself? Very well then, i contradict myself. Wheel up! Oh, and the George Bush incestuous queer blowjob mashup at the end of the song is more than a little endearing too. Go figure.
The much maligned "Mordor" (a friend saw the title on a playlist and began to despair that i'd started listening to some kind of LotR filk shit. Even irony has its poisonous boundaries) is the fucking gem that makes this record a favourite. Okay, it does have the puzzling and ridiculous Gollum quote and the ambient interludes are, at times, a tad (where 'tad' = 'an amount approximately proportional to all the water currently in Naw'lins') cheesy, but, Jeezum Crow, the fucking drums here are just too much. I know exactly shit all about music production, but those drums just kick. Concrete examples: greyodyssey, a person of impeccable taste and good breeding, copied a Spectre mix from me for the purpose of having a copy of this song; at a show i saw before leaving T.O., someone spun this and the whole room went nuts, pumping fists and scuttling/shuffling to the insane percussion. It's fucking wicked and it's shit like this (along with Spectre's new sideproject, Drumcorps, which mixes digitally distorted metallic hardcore and drum n' bass to frenzied effect1) that elevate Aaron Spectre above a lot of the more derivative ragga revival shit.
Nutshell: i'm more than a little conflicted about this release, but whatever. Broader questions of cultural and linguistic imperialism don't seem to step inna the dancehall and, at least in this instance, i'm prepared to accept a truce, especially given that Spectre doesn't seem to rely on ragga as some kind of Orientalist exoticism to spice up otherwise uninteresting music. It's solid, well-made, innovative leftfield jungle and, call me complacent, but i totally dig it. At the very least, it'll keep you going until 2011's planned neo-dubstep revival (now with more diva vocals!)
(You can download Aaron Spectre's 70+ min. mix, Life We Promote, from his website, which includes both songs discussed above. Additionally, the Evil Most Foul 12''and Drumcorps Remix or Die 12'' are available from most online electronic music retailers (or, uhm, slsk. Shhh!) If you want another free taste though, head to http://www.mashit.com for free MP3's of his awesome split with DJ C)
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1 - Do not even front like that's not neat. I know you have at least a bruised adolescent appreciation for DHR. Imagine if Alec Empire learned to use some software, had good taste in hardcore and stopped his uber-broken English caterwauling, in favour of digitally sputtered vocals and insane drum editing. Ergo, Drumcorps.
Aaron Spectre - Evil Most Foul (Death$ucker Records) - On paper, this should kinda suck. We all know how popular and cool it is to bash the recent ragga jungle revivial as an instance of white, middle-class computer nerds reappropriating Black proletarian culture (Mssr. Fringeli, we are looking at you). And being popular and cool is where it's at, especially when, well, the criticism is entirely accurate. Sure, Amen Andrews and co. make fucking wicked music but divorced from the original context the music was made in, it just becomes an exercise in empty formalism, a pastiche of amens and patois to get the kids moving, cut off from any kind of oppositional or political force.
That's not to say that the old skool junglist massif were hurling paving stones at cops or igniting shopping malls, but simply to observe that, like so many other forms of Black musical culture, ragga jungle was initially a genre of music made predominantly by poor people of colour. It was partially a response to the exclusivity of the white rave scene (as i understand it, at least). Later, it too became hip as the culture industry clamoured for another Black-made musical commodity to sell off to its jaded consumers: "Hip! Authentic! New!" Jungle follows in the footsteps of blues, jazz, rock, reggae, hip-hop, garage and others i'm sure i'm forgetting: moments of musical and cultural experimentation ripped from their context and sold as commodity (something all the more necessary within electronic music, given the often accelerated pace of production and distribution: "grime", take note).
So some people made some cash at it and, like any other commodity sold as a fad, it was subsequently consigned to the dustbin of rave history. 10+ years later and IDM'mers who grew up on 90's rave start a nostalgia kick and suddenly it's big again. A revival of an appropriation, but this time with even less context or content. Ostensibly political breakcore artists can toss in acapellas with the most insane homophobic or sexist shit over their (admittedly awesome) ear-splitting post-jungle. Why? Because that vocal is fucking WICKED, man.
Really then, this shouldn't work. Spectre's a white dreadlocked dude who (apparently) has an abiding love of punk rock and hardcore. This ought to be the poster-child for the millennium's tired (re)discovery of old ragga jungle. More than that, you've got song titles like "Look Out Fi Liar" and (wait for it) "Mordor", which made me envision inspirational Gandalf quotes over spoooooky synth stabs and tweaked breaks. Open and shut, right? Stupid movie samples, affected patois spelling and a dreadlocked sexy-punky whiteboy selecta? Case closed, file next to whatever disposable ragga shit is making the rounds on slsk this week.
But, shit, this record is awesome.
"Look Out Fi Liar" is this total burner with really awesome drum programming and a nice twinkly piano sound hiding just below the mix. And, yeah, the vocal is pretty happening too. I don't know what to say about this song aside from saying it's a particularly adept and danceable instance of the scenario i laid out above. That doesn't really do it justice though, as i've been listening to this track on repeat for most of the summer. But y'know i'm pretty fucking fat and i contain multitudes. Do i contradict myself? Very well then, i contradict myself. Wheel up! Oh, and the George Bush incestuous queer blowjob mashup at the end of the song is more than a little endearing too. Go figure.
The much maligned "Mordor" (a friend saw the title on a playlist and began to despair that i'd started listening to some kind of LotR filk shit. Even irony has its poisonous boundaries) is the fucking gem that makes this record a favourite. Okay, it does have the puzzling and ridiculous Gollum quote and the ambient interludes are, at times, a tad (where 'tad' = 'an amount approximately proportional to all the water currently in Naw'lins') cheesy, but, Jeezum Crow, the fucking drums here are just too much. I know exactly shit all about music production, but those drums just kick. Concrete examples: greyodyssey, a person of impeccable taste and good breeding, copied a Spectre mix from me for the purpose of having a copy of this song; at a show i saw before leaving T.O., someone spun this and the whole room went nuts, pumping fists and scuttling/shuffling to the insane percussion. It's fucking wicked and it's shit like this (along with Spectre's new sideproject, Drumcorps, which mixes digitally distorted metallic hardcore and drum n' bass to frenzied effect1) that elevate Aaron Spectre above a lot of the more derivative ragga revival shit.
Nutshell: i'm more than a little conflicted about this release, but whatever. Broader questions of cultural and linguistic imperialism don't seem to step inna the dancehall and, at least in this instance, i'm prepared to accept a truce, especially given that Spectre doesn't seem to rely on ragga as some kind of Orientalist exoticism to spice up otherwise uninteresting music. It's solid, well-made, innovative leftfield jungle and, call me complacent, but i totally dig it. At the very least, it'll keep you going until 2011's planned neo-dubstep revival (now with more diva vocals!)
(You can download Aaron Spectre's 70+ min. mix, Life We Promote, from his website, which includes both songs discussed above. Additionally, the Evil Most Foul 12''and Drumcorps Remix or Die 12'' are available from most online electronic music retailers (or, uhm, slsk. Shhh!) If you want another free taste though, head to http://www.mashit.com for free MP3's of his awesome split with DJ C)
---
1 - Do not even front like that's not neat. I know you have at least a bruised adolescent appreciation for DHR. Imagine if Alec Empire learned to use some software, had good taste in hardcore and stopped his uber-broken English caterwauling, in favour of digitally sputtered vocals and insane drum editing. Ergo, Drumcorps.