Day 0934- Power in Numbers

Jurassic 5 “Power in Numbers” (2002) – got it

I was introduced to Jurassic 5 through the video for “What’s Golden” (a single from this album).  I was struck by the great beat, interesting production, smart lyrics and the chorus that manages to be catchy without needing rely on a sample or a guest singer.  The real clincher for me was hearing Chali 2na… this group is more than one MC but his bassy percussive rapping style was something I hadn’t really heard before.

I picked up this album not long after that, and it didn’t disappoint.  The tracks have a lot of soul and jazz that sounds like similar to what the Soulquarians’ were doing, though in this case that sound comes courtesy of DJs Cut Chemist and Nu-Mark.   They lay a jazzy groove behind “If you only knew” and strings and melancholic guitar in the Nelly Furtado-featured “Thin Line”.

I like that while there are touches of typical hip-hop braggadocio, the group are largely humble, intelligent and kick against the misogynistic and ‘gangsta’ norms found in some areas of hip-hop.

There is some speedy, snappy rapping on track “A day at the races”, and in fact across the record the MCs seem able to speed it up or slow it down to suit.  They also have a really great style they deploy which is somehow legato and staccato at the same time… like the vocal equivalent of driving over a cattle-stop where the words flow together but each syllable is bouncing off the previous one… ah sorry, I’m dancing about architecture.

Essentially, it’s an album that is bursting with talent, from the core members (most of whom have pursued solo careers) to the guests who include Kool Keith performing the acapella track “DDT”.

J5 would go on to release one more album (2006’s “Feedback”) before splitting up.  While they have reunited for the odd show, no further material (outside of the single "Customer Service") has been released since then.

Day 0559 - Rain Dogs

Tom Waits "Rain Dogs" (1985)

If "Swordfishtrombones" was a drunken left-turn down a dark alley, populated by an assortment of weird and unusual characters; "Rain Dogs" is Waits deciding that he likes the alley-way and setting himself up in his spot around the trash-can fire.

The beat poetry and drunken piano ballads are largely gone in favour of stories about the aforementioned odd characters, backed by honking horns (that occasionally drift into New Orleans jazz territory) and interesting melodic percussion.   Regular John Zorn collaborator Marc Ribot provides guitar for the album with playing that ranges from jazzy surf and twangy lead, to abrasive avant sounds, and everything between.  The music includes remnants of his bar-room piano balladry, and even some country and western, but mostly it's a whole new world.

Waits' voice ranges from his newly adopted barking shout, to a gravelly croon, occasionally even dabbling in a sort of affected nasally cabaret vocal.

Day 0483 - Non-stop Erotic Cabaret

Soft Cell "Non-stop Erotic Cabaret" (1981)

My favourite part from the blurb about this one in the book is where it said that the band ended up breaking up when, after a bad review, vocalist Marc Almond marched into the office of the critic and set upon him with a bullwhip.   It just screams the kind of twisted sass that you'd associate with a band who made a career out of singing about the seedy sex-market underbelly of the UK.

It's an interesting album  with a very 80s vibe.  The band are a duo with one of them on vocals and the other creating the music, largely just using a drum machine and synthesisers.  There are hints of sleazy jazz moods.  As far as the lyrical sleaze, it feels almost a tad naive in places; like a virgin trying to bluff everyone that he has totally got laid a bunch of times (no matter what that flasher jacket and sleazy porn-star mo might suggest).


The track most people will know from this one is "Tainted Love".





Really looking forward to the next little run of albums.  There are a few artists that I've been meaning to check out and just have never got around to.

Day 0434 - Live at the Witch Trials

The Fall "Live at the Witch Trials" (1979)

A British band championed by the late great DJ John Peel.

There's a definite punk feel to the album, but with a broader range of sounds such as spoken word sections, moments of musique concrete and theatricality. I can see why a musical omnivore like Peel would enjoy it.

The rhythm section is tight and pounding with guitars that are sometimes abrasive, sometimes washy and insubstantial, playing over and against the off-kilter organ and with Mark E Smith's frantic Mancunian voice over the top.