Day 0921 - Stankonia

Outkast "Stankonia" (2000)

 
Following the good reception of their album "Aquemini", Outkast drew attention to Southern hip-hop and found themselves in a position to purchase a studio in which they could work on the follow-up.   By all accounts this gave the group the freedom to work on ideas at their leisure without being 'on the clock'.

The result is some space-aged hip-hop, with interesting production throughout, good beats, and a mix of genres.   Andre 3000 had taken to singing more than rapping which gave the group another string to their bow.  The album opens on an explosive note with "Gasoline Dreams" it moves through slinky and soulful singles "So Fresh, So Clean" and "Miss Jackson" before hitting you with "B.O.B".   That last song more than anything sums up what Outkast were capable of, with drum'n'bass, gospel, rap, and psychedelic rock all smashing together in a track that feels like it shouldn't work, but it does, and obliterates the planet!

The group would start to drift a little with their next (still brilliant) release, being put forward as a double-album that, though each disc featured collaboration from both members, was sounding more and more like two solo albums rather than a unified band release.

 

Day 0759 - The Sun Rises in the East

Jeru the Damaja  "The Sun Rises in the East" (1994)

Jeru had worked with Gang Starr, and that group's DJ Premier produced this, Jeru's first solo album.  

The production and beats are probably the most interesting part of this album for me.   It almost seems to lean into trip-hop territory with moody instrumental samples backed with drum-machine loops.

The book talks about how Jeru calls out various other rap artists of the time for various perceived offences, but then I don't generally pay attention to lyrics.   Whatever is pissing off Jeru it goes past me, and musically the album doesn't really stand out for me above and beyond other albums or even other hip hop albums of the time.

Day 0402 - All Mod Cons

The Jam "All Mod Cons" (1978)

The Jam had been signed in 1977 and within 12 months they seemed as if they were all dried up. Paul Weller's songwriting inpsiration seemed to have vanished. When the record company heard their new album they told the band to scrap it... That must be a harsh message for guys who were only around 20 at the time, and it worked to revitalise them as went back to the drawing board.

The book mentions Weller's well-sketched characters laid out in his lyrics, but as is often the case for me, I didn't really take much note of the lyrics. The music though is tight, it kind of has a punky Clash-esque vibe but with the bass even more prominent (which I enjoy) and a lot more melody.  It's almost as if the Beatles and the Clash had birthed a little pop/rock/punk baby.

There's a kind of stripped-down punk energy to it, but with a couple of tracks (including English Rose) actually being quite lovely and melodic.