Wednesday, October 9, 1996
Ras Kass "Soul on Ice" (Priority) In his highly anticipated
debut album, Ras Kass continues in the "edutainment," or education
through entertainment, tradition popularized by both KRS-1 and
Chuck D from Public Enemy. At the focal point of his lesson plan is
the song "Nature of the Threat," a 7 1/2-minute monologue
concerning the history of racism. In this song, Kass exhibits his
command of vocabulary and facts that are not brought up in many
history classes. He also deals with issues ranging from the East
Coast-West Coast rivalry that has recently risen to an outright
hostile level ("Sonsets") to the politics of the music industry
("Reelishym").
His autobiographical sketch contained in "The Evil That Men Do"
contains this haunting recollection of his childhood: "In ’81 I
remember the night/I covered myself with baby powder/so my black
ass could be light, cause God is white/and Bo Derek is a 10, I hate
my black skin."
The entire album is not that bleak. "Marinatin’" deals with
nothing more than his daily routine of chilling.
Ras Kass is a gifted lyricist with an extraordinary breadth of
topics, and "Soul On Ice" is rounded out by sparse beats produced
mostly by Bird from Western HemisFear and scratches by ShortKut.
Check out ShortKut’s beat juggling at the end of "Sonsets" for some
ill turntablism. If you’re growing tired of the Mafioso, g-funk rap
that tends to dominate the radio airwaves, consider "Soul On Ice"
as required listening. School is in session. N.S. A
(Mixed by) DJ Kelley "Funkydesertbreaks" (Moonshine) Local label
Moonshine Music has a tendency to attract the best and brightest of
DJs and mix artists worldwide, and DJ John Kelley is no exception.
Kelley’s hard mixes of desert artists succeeds on several levels
and is a rare example of electronic music that rises above its
technological roots.
Fueling Kelley’s breakbeat mixes on this album are solid beats
laid down by the likes of Electric Skychurch as well as a mix of
other artists. But it’s ultimately Kelley’s mixing that brings
forth the power of the music on this album. Beats deliciously range
from sparse, strange timings amidst bleak tonal landscapes to the
overbearing mono-noise chording and pounding of traditional
trip-hop sounds. Within a multitude of moods, Kelly illustrates how
best to use complexity in multiple, dependent layers. This one
tremendous skill is what renders Kelley almost peerless.
Additionally, Kelley’s understanding of the listener’s desire
for change within tracks is uncanny and as a result the music
avoids all pitfalls of repetition and monotony. This is furiously
mad mixing, with none of the unpleasant side effects. This is not
an album for drugs or dancing, it’s a music for headphones Â
good ones. D.S. A
The Roots "illadelph halflife" (DGC) The Roots are a fine
hip-hop group from Philadelphia who bring forth some of the most
soulful elements of the genre without the contrived crap that
permeates some groups played on local radio stations. For all the
fans of hip-hop who feel that too much out there is for
radio-friendly DJs and that contemporary hi-hop has lost the feel
that makes it easy to flow and groove to, this album’s for you.
Making it clear that this album was made for the group itself
and not the record label, the rappers declare on "Push Up Ya
Lighters" that "the principles of true hip-hop have been
forsaken/it’s all contractual about money-makin’" in a tone that
sets them apart from anyone who truly believes that hip-hop has
sold out forever.
By holding themselves up to high production qualities that
highlight the group’s penchant for atmospheric sounds, they set
themselves apart from the mainstream by gliding into your permanent
CD collection of favorite albums. The interwoven collage of samples
are mixed in with precision for a sound that’s lean, with a
distinct sonic signature and none of the bogus filler that seems to
run rampant on some hip-hop albums.
With any luck, this group will get some much-deserved attention
on radio and push the mainstream in the right direction. M.N. A
John Parish and Polly Jean Harvey "Dance Hall at Louse Point"
(Island) Harvey, the reigning queen of introspective eccentricity,
teams her lyrics with Parish’s off-kilter music to create an album
that is definitely an acquired taste. From Harvey’s semi-conscious
cynicism on "Is That All There Is?" to her lo-fi, hysterical
squeals on "City of No Sun," the very things that seem annoying or
grating upon first listen become the record’s most treasured
moments.
Most of the album is stark, lyrically and musically  at
once subtle and straight to the point, even if that point takes a
while to sink in.
Hollow and moody, the songs are often kept afloat on little more
than the pulse of keyboards, as in "Civil War Correspondent," a
tactic which allows an eerie silence or an eerier Harvey to take
center stage. Nowhere is she creepier than on "Taut," where she
frantically chokes and giggles a tale of insanity, Jesus, obsession
and car ownership. All of this madness is countered by the
kick-back, too-cool country of "Rope Bridge Crossing," one of the
more immediately digestible tracks. Despite the music’s palpable
temperament  aloof, teetering on insanity, neurotically
pacing one step, swaggering lazily the next  Harvey’s
personae and vocal experiments steal the show. For those who insist
she is a self-obsessed pretentious artiste  well, so what.
That’s been said of anyone who does something truly different. And
that, Harvey does. K.F. A-
Brendan Benson "One Mississippi" (Virgin) There’s an interesting
moment during the introduction to the eighth track, "How ‘Bout You"
when this entire album is summed up  its attitude, meaning,
soul  every nook and cranny of this three-piece pop band. One
band member, laughing with his band mates, chuckles, "That shit’s
inspiring." Inspiring, indeed, is what every band from the Beatles
to Oasis was to Benson and friends while making this album.
Benson falls somewhere between Spacehog and Superdrag on about
half of the album, while the other half smells like old, novelty
’60s rock. On the opening track, "Tea," you are suddenly recalled
to a time when the Partridge Family sounded cool, but you are
quickly brought back with the modern, noisy gem, "Bird’s Eye View."
Then, without a pause, the music goes back to simple, guitar
harmonies with "Sittin’ Pretty." This kind of transformation occurs
quite frequently with promising songs, which stick out like sore
thumbs.
Being a highly derivative band has its good and bad points.
Benson is hard to hate; their minimalist pop approach is catchy,
fun and happy while it lasts. However, they are also hard to love,
especially when there isn’t much meaning or originality behind the
approach to keep us interested. And in a time when every new band
is starting to sound the same, Benson’s 15 minutes could soon be
up. B.V. B-
Toledo "Fishnets and Cigarettes" (Moonshine) Right off the
soundtrack of a bad David Lynch film, "Fishnets and Cigarettes"
screams at us with the same mediocrity that killed acid jazz in the
first place. Laced with self-consciousness and false cool, this
album can be pegged as simply another knockoff of those
semi-talented artists who originally illustrated with acid jazz why
we don’t bastardize more of our cultural foundations.
Filled with gravely lyrical monologues that neither say anything
comprehensible or sound like anything approaching a stylistic
statement, "Fishnets and Cigarettes" immediately consumes itself
with a self-importance of the highest order. By the third or fourth
track, the players are able to accurately mimic the same grating
"wah-wah trumpet through bad speakers" that characterizes each and
every subsequent track.
For those unable to imagine how bad this album sounds, (all of
you, really) imagine Nat King Cole on acid, trying to gangsta rap
over bad piano. The result is a sound that thinks it’s just too
goddamn cool and is simply another laughingly idiotic product of
people who have no understanding of what the word "jazz" ever
meant, much less "acid." Somebody stop selling these people
equipment. D.S. D
Reviews by Nelson Saldua, Kristin Fiore, Brendon Vandergast and
Damon Seeley. "Soundbites" runs Mondays and Wednesdays.
RAS KASS
"Soul on Ice"