Monday, November 2, 1998
Out of the shadow
MUSIC: With the release of their promising
new albums,
Fatboy Slim and
Unkle strive to
place the spotlight on
the latest innovations in electronic music
By Trinh Bui
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Get ready for a listening experience in sampled fury,
electrically tempered by two spinmasters of their respective
electronic realm.
One disc is a premonition in a boy’s dream, and the other is a
reflection of the deejay’s mellow party cool mentality. Both plan
to corrupt the young and the almost young through an assault
bristling with beats hard enough to curl back the wood of a dance
floor.
Unkle’s "Psyence Fiction" is a collaboration between Mo Wax
founder James Lavelle and the label’s biggest hit-maker, DJ Shadow,
a.k.a. Josh Davis. It’s an album dressed up in hard hip-hop trips
with a penchant for straying into sci-fi geek wizardry.
For Unkle’s almost high brow eclecticness, the sophomore release
of Fatboy Slim, known to IRS agents as Norman Cook, is titled
"You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby" and follows in the same vein as his
first disc. With obnoxiously catchy funk beats, "Better Living
Through Chemistry," made Fatboy the reigning master of the big beat
genre.
With two of the biggest electronic albums to be released this
year, both Unkle and Fatboy come in with high expectations. Unkle,
with a supporting cast including the likes of Thom Yorke
(Radiohead), Mike D. (Beastie Boys) and Richard Ashcroft (The
Verve), infuses styles from trip-hop, pop and rap creating a
beautifully ethereal mongrel sound.
A thinking man’s electronic disc, "Fiction" is a work meant for
quiet times, a supplement to thinking and recollection. "Fiction"
exemplifies where electronic music will go in the future.
Most noticeable in the new look is the use of original lyrics
recorded live, instead of a sampled lyric, on this disc. Consider
the new feature as the opposable thumb of electronic based music.
It gives DJs the versatility to add depth and creativity to their
three-hundred- sample layered tunes.
If Unkle’s music looks to the future, Fatboy’s music holds on
tight to the old-school past of electronic music. "Baby" takes
dance music back home to the ’70s soul-funk flavor.
Big beats with disregard for decadent excess are Fatboy’s
hallmark. The techniques and tricks used on "Baby" lend themselves
to other electronic discs by using the ever popular 303, bringing a
single melody to a near climax before exploding it with the rest of
the melodies. Sampled vocals are prevalent throughout the disc.
What makes Slim’s disc standout from the average DJ disc is his
affinity to sample classic music and not get too paranoid with
going experimental. His music radiates a brash and youthful party
quality that infects anyone who happens to catch an earful of this
dangerous concoction.
"Fiction" and "Baby’s" differences go beyond simple style,
although both represent the best of electronic music, as well as
the divergent personalities of their creators.
Born from Lavelle’s mind 12 years ago, "Fiction’s" sole mission
in existence is to be the biggest sex, action entertainment piece
of vinyl around. The gestation period for "Fiction" took over a
decade to complete.
Conceived by Lavelle’s energy and passion and nurtured with
Shadow’s skill at the turntables and mixing board, "Fiction" grew
into a healthy collection of moody and sometimes panic-ridden
delirium. The songs tell the tale of the unbelievable hardship
endured by the two parents during "Fiction’s" recording.
"Guns Blazing  Drums of Death Part 1" opens up "Fiction"
with a S.O.S. to anyone willing to save lost souls. "Blazing’s"
foreboding tempo thickens with a music al background dominated by a
bass beat mimicking the heartbeat of a man about to face his worst
enemy.
Indeed, "Fiction’s" tone maintains a constant spacy, grounded
mentality, almost to the point of depressing and broken. The
selection of guest vocalist contributed to the feel of despairing
nothingness. Ashcroft recorded his vocals for "Lonely Soul," after
breaking up the Verve in 1996.
"Soul" captures the frustration Ashcroft was feeling at the
time. He sings to a dreary orchestral string harmony and about
"cutting the cord" and bidding farewell to close but terminally
flawed friends.
Designed for introspection, "Fiction" is a disc most suited for
an astronaut lost in space floating forever in an endless void.
Conceived in Fatboy Slim’s mind while under the influence of
chemical experimentation, "Baby" brings together nothing but a good
party music atmosphere. Forget about listening to the disc in
search of some existential meaning, "Baby" is strictly for funk
brothers and having a high time.
Slim originally started his musical career as a bassist for the
socialist brit-pop group, The Housemartins. Dropping the cause of
collective ownership for the cause of collective partying, Slim
moved on to the Big Beat Boutique honing his talent to bring out
the dancers in us all.
The goofy-natured Brighton’s latest wildchild is just like her
daddy. Full of spunk and juvenile tendency to have fun over all
else, this baby comes built for groove action.
"Gangster Tripping," is possibly the best dance single of the
past decade. Sampling a catchy guitar riff and sewing it to a
foundation beat reeking in the rhythm of classic African Baambaata
funk.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Fatboy Slim creation without campy
sampled vocals over the disco dynamite. "Rockefeller Skank"
personifies Slim’s laid back approach to life.
Laying down the track with Lord Finesse’s vocal sample with that
deliriously addictive twangy surf guitar riff makes "Skank" a disco
staple at any good club for years to come.
"Baby" is the congratulatory disc for the astronaut recently
rescued from floating in space forever.
A stark contrast to its "Fiction" cousin, "Baby" adds a ray of
bright color and vitality to its thoughtful but awfully pale
Unkle.
(Above) Fat Boy Slim’s album is titled "You’ve Come a Long Way,
Baby."
(Left) The album "Psyence Fiction" features DJ Shadow (left) and
James Lavelle of Unkle.
DJ Shadow (left) and James Lavelle (right) of Uncle from their
album "Psyence Fiction."
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