Skrufff Albums of 2002
Author: Jonty Adderley
Thursday, December 19, 2002
:: The Chemical Brothers: Come With Us:: The Gotan Project: La Revancha Del Tango
:: X Press 2: Muzikizum
:: The Streets: Original Pirate Material
:: Kiko- Midnight Magic
:: Percy X: Where's The Music
:: Slam: Alien Radio Remixed
:: Adam Beyer: Ignition Key
:: Underworld: A Hundred Days Off
:: Golden Boy featuring Miss Kitten: Or
The Chemical Brothers- Come With Us
(Virgin/ Planet Dust)
"It's an hour of music with lots of different feelings in it and takes you to different places, so it's a journey, whatever you call it. There are different styles on it, like there have been on all of our records." So says Ed Simons of the Chemical's new (and fourth) album which is already being hailed as the first big album release of 2002.
Featuring less guest collaborators than before (just long term mate Beth Orton and The Verve's Richard Ashcroft) the album is less immediate than Surrender, though more in keeping with their earlier albums, mixing beats, samples and ambience into a typically chemically enhanced stew.
Come With Us opens the duo's hour, with sampled strings rolling and swirling into a thumping, energy building dance floor groove. Robotic voices set the tempo and maintain it on Afrika, the single which first appeared last August. Star Guitar, the band's new single, is probably the weakest track on the collection, looping somewhat aimlessly into a tranced out groove built on a disappointing hook, while Hoops restores some order courtesy of a recognisably human vocal sample and some typically broken beats. Squelching electronic acid lines lead off on My Elastic Eye, another track with clear remix potential.
Flesh and blood regular Chems collaborator Beth Orton then makes her appearance for The State We're In, a downtempo, song with shades of Massive Attack and even Portishead, before Denmark goes back to the floor.
The album's best moments come on the last two tracks, initially through the achingly sad chord changes of Pioneer Skies then on Richard Ashcroft's tour de force The Test. That it's Ashcroft's finest moment since 1995's Verve smash Urban Hymns, is unquestionable, his voice soaring over an anthemic soundbed that's classic Chemicals in structure, sound and style (not least for the whale-type sound, popping out of the electronic fog.) The Chemicals are back, as singular and as talented as ever.
The Gotan Project: La Revancha Del Tango
(Ya Basta! / XL Records)
While most albums labelled 'word of mouth' hits are usually the result of increasingly cynical secret marketing campaigns, Gotan Project's La Revancha Del Tango looks like becoming the exception that proves the rule. "Well placed to be the coffee table album of 2002," as Music Week put it, the record is a fusion of serious tango over Portishead style chillout grooves, that's both accessible and highly listenable.
The brainchild of an Argentinian, Swiss and a Frenchman, the album includes a cover of a Frank Zappa song as well as original songs, all passed through the tango filter with cohesive and impressive effect.
"We're using electronic tricks to make the tango more accessible and that's why it works," the band said recently. "The improvisation has to come back to real melodies and bring melodies back into dance music."
La Revancha Del Tango does exactly that, and, already massive in France, looks equally well set for St Germain level global success. Which is appropriate, since according to its press release, tango's place in currently chaotic Argentina "is the music of revolution, both sexual and political."
X Press 2: Muzikizum
(Skin Tags