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BUSTA
RHYMES
It Ain't Safe No More
(J-Records)
Even before September 11, the world wasn't
a safe place when New York rapper Busta Rhymes was laying
his take-no-prisoners rhymes on an unsuspecting public. And,
even as he enters his 30s, Busta refuses to tone down his
sometimes devastating, sometimes hilarious rhetoric, laying
it on heavy in his follow-up to 2001's Genesis. Notwithstanding
a few slack moments such as the melodramatic “What Do
You Do When You're Branded,” It Ain't Safe
No More comes at you hard and fast, overwhelming the competition
on songs like “Call the Ambulance” with rhymes as
wicked as they are wickedly funny. The title track, meanwhile,
is a rambunctious P-Funk singalong that sets the pace for
an album that finds Busta Rhymes setting the bar high for
hip-hop releases due out this year.
DJ SPINNA
Here to There
(Rapster)
Brooklyn beat maestro and occasional visitor to Yellow, DJ
Spinna sets a high standard for 2003 with a new album bursting
with fluid beats and perspicacious rhymes. Here to There is
quite an earful, its 16 tracks spanning the range of Spinna's
flavas from hip-hop to house and on down to downtempo and
downright chill-out music. Guest rappers Shadowman and the
Jigmastas, house divas Angela Johnson and Vinia Mojica, jam
jazz group Soulive and smooth singer Shaun Escoffery are only
a few of the luminaries on an album that speaks of Spinna's
deep respect for and command of the idioms of US electronica
both past and present. Verdict: this is one of the most pleasant
musical lessons you're likely to receive. Spinna hits
town Feb 21 in another installment of Liquid Room's 7hours
series.
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Hotaka Mountain Festival '01 '02
(Music of the Sphere/Island)
For dance music fanatics who attended what has become one
of Japan's largest raves, or those unable to make the
seven-hour journey from Tokyo to Hotaka Mountain, label Music
of the Sphere has released a 2-CD document of the sprawling
event. With tracks from psychedelic techno avatars like the
Orb (“A Huge Evergrowing Pulsating Brain…”)
and leading Japanese producers from deep house stylist Kaoru
Inoue to electro-dub adventurers Audio Active, Hotaka Mountain
Festival '01 '02 offers a broad overview of Japan's
vital electronica scene. While many of the tracks tend to
rehash by now familiar clichés of psychedelic trance,
the album—unlike most dance compilations—successfully
conveys the intensity of the live experience of a rave for
those who would prefer not to stomp around in the mud.
RYUICHI SAKAMOTO
Femme Fatale (Original Motion Picture Score)
(WEA Japan)
After nearly a dozen full-length releases in 2002, Professor
Sakamoto concluded another prolific year with the original
score to Femme Fatale, his most fetching work in the film
domain in this new decade. Sakamoto opens the gala with the
majestically ceremonious “Bolerish,” a mirror rendition
of Maurice Ravel's famed “Boléro” but
interpreted with a palpable sense of flight and balletic swing.
The bulk of the score, however, is comprised of concise melodic,
tonal, and structural statements recalling his early '90s
film work, but with sonics akin to the meticulous delicacy
of his late '90s ambient sketches. The presence of contrasts—orchestral
and electronic, tension and release, mystery and resolve—complement
Brian De Palma's erotic thriller and make this album
equally compelling as an aural stand-alone. WC
The Cotton Butcher
Autumn Leaves
Classic Cutts
Songs. Stories. Of loss, of hope. The Cotton Butcher tell
simple stories. They tell them with cello, acoustic guitar,
sparse percussion, with tender melodies. They tell stories
to listen to in the morning, when it's quiet, when you
need to think. The Cotton Butcher want to help you think about
your life. Track two, “Binnie Man,” soars. It then
delivers you safely, serenely, securely, on the ground. The
guy who is singing seems to mean it. The guy playing the cello
seems to believe him. They used to rehearse together in a
park in Tokyo. Track six, “The Drifter, is beautiful.”
It is comparable. But it stands on its own. Nice record desho.
SB
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