|
|
|
MUSICBOX
Pushin’
weight
When I first heard The Chemical Brothers’ debut single, Galvanize, off their latest album Push the Button on local FM radio, I was mildly scandalized. What the hell was this? Where was the hip-hop noir of Block Rockin’ Beats? Where was the tripped out sitar of Setting Sun? Where was the freewheeling, acid-tinged abandon of Let Forever Be? Indeed, one was tempted to ask: would the real Chemical Brothers please stand up?
Had the Brothers sold out to big money corporate label-dom? After all, with the music industry’s sudden interest in all things ‘ethnic,’ the sampled, Arabesque string section that forms the backbone of the piece sounded increasingly suspect, as did Q-Tip, of pioneering hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest, toasting over the break-beats. But prejudice can be misleading. On closer inspection, Push the Button turns out to be a disc loaded with the Brothers’ trademark acid flourishes, pioneering break-beats and hairpin turns that leave most mainstream dance acts eating their dust. Its deep, delicious grooves and trippy melodies make short work of the competition, sealing the Brothers’ fate as one of the biggest ‘intelligent’ dance music acts of the Nineties and beyond.
Galvanize, far from sounding contrived, is tight, mixing the aforementioned strings with ululating singers, Q-Tip’s fresh jive and plenty of vocoder-inflected vocals. A fine slice of ethno-techno. The extensive deuce of Believe and Hold Tight London is by far the crowning glory of the record where the Brothers show their skills as mix-masters of the first water. While Believe starts off as a relatively safe dancefloor filler with a thumping beat, by the time it melts into Hold Tight London, one has left the physical plane only to arrive in the heart of club-land in some far off, jet-set heaven. And then you wake up and go to work. Seriously, London is a marvellous ambient house gem anchored by a driving guitar lick.
Rounding off the 11 song cycle is Surface to Air, a seven-minute plus monster that is aptly named: it sonically personifies a psychedelic missile that blasts off and explodes inside the cerebral cortex, as this most Kraftwerk-esque track on the album starts off smooth, weaving its way into big-beat territory.
For those who think faceless modern trance is the only representative of electronica, think again. The Chemical Brothers have it right here. This one’s enough to turn your bedroom into the Hacienda, or any other club of your choice. Have a safe trip. —Tyrannus
.jpg)
Nellyoverdose
Nelly’s debut album Country Grammar and sophomore record Nellyville packed quite a punch with their dance-centric hip hop beats. However Suit and Sweat, his latest two albums, don’t have the striking hooks that catapulted him to stardom in the first place.
While zealous Nelly fans will be soaring to seventh heaven because the Nelly machine has been working overtime, saner quarters (including yours truly) are left questioning the need for the ‘synchronized’ release of two discs since they don’t exactly feature Nelly at his best. There is an obsessive volatility in the two albums when it comes to the choice of themes that the rapper has opted for. Even with a double disc drop, Nelly fails to outperform his previous release, proving categorically that you can never match the lustre of quality with the larder of quantity.
Rappers aren’t the most grammar wise folks alive and Nelly is no exception. Some of the better tracks are where the artist has collaborated with guest artists including Ronald Isley, Christina Aguilera and Missy Elliott. But even these joint efforts can’t save the Nelly ship from sinking and serve only to downplay the host artist. Nelly’s own solo efforts sound jaded and predictable at best, plus you have to exert your grey cells extra hard to decipher the rap.
In Nelly’s own words, “Sweat has more club joints and more street-oriented songs” and tracks like Flap Your Wings (the first single), Tilt Ya Head Back, Getcha Getcha and River Don’t Runnn provide a testimony to the claim with their disco-ish backgrounds. The bass-driven and up-tempo album also features the track Spida Man, though it hasn’t the remotest to do with the blockbuster franchise.
In contrast to Sweat, Suit takes a one-dimensional dip into the sea of reflection and you won’t be dying to know the pearls of wisdom this artist has to offer. Tracks like Pretty Toes, In My Life, Nobody Knows and Die for You dwell on clichéd themes. Over and Over, where country star Tim McGraw steps in, is like a square peg in a round hole and sounds completely out of place on the disc.
Nelly’s recent releases sound good only for jolting a discotheque crowd to its feet and make Nelly seem like a rather overrated artist because of their conceptual dearth. For the average listener, this is loud music sans lively magic. —Taimur Saleem
|
|
|
|
