Music Reviews

Chunes

Squall 15, Summer 1997, pg. 56.

Bitten (Smitten Records 1996)
Political Party Broacast (Routemaster Records 1997)

CD format
review by Paul

An album apiece from two labels that together with Stay Up Forever are at the forefront of the London acid/techno/trance underground that recently received mucho media attention. Providing the perfect antidote for trance fans who don't want to Goa all the way, both compilations are chock full of 'avin it acid with a funky kick.

'Bitten' appeared late last year with a round up of the full throttle 303 throb that fuelled it through successively successful 12"s during the latter half of '96. From the punchy chunky 'Ballistic' by Ballistic to the breakbeat based 'jazzy mix' of Starpower's 'Nothing Can Save Us' the album sinks it's teeth in all the way to the bone and it's all topped off with the M41 street party opening anthem 'London Acid City'.

In a way the top titled 'Political Party Broadcast' due to be released any day now carries on where 'Bitten' leaves off with a collection of new and recent Routemaster including tracks from Kektex, Sarcoblast and Immersion. Meanwhile the second disc sees Laurie Immersion take us on a mix trip through the Routemaster back catalogue with added 'erbs and spices from the Bag, Cluster and S.U.F. labels.

With a solo Immersion album project also in the offing later in the year... if he were around today would be bound to say "You've never 'ad it so good!"

Theo And Shannon - Child Of The Universe

Shannon and Theo 1996 - tape only
review by DJ Seed

Album's like this restore your faith in the relevance of crafted acoustic folk music. Theo and Shannon are in fact two residents of the bender community at Kingshill in Somerset, and without a doubt sow a well crafted selection of self-penned tunes that do everything to reflect both their close-to-the-soil lives and the state we all live in. Check the lyrics to ‘Bastard Mastercard’ for a cutting comment on the trap of mammon, whilst ‘Nature's Song’ gives thanks to the first sounds they hear when they wake up on their hill near Glastonbury.

Theo and Shannon are a constantly touring musical outfit, gigging throughout the UK and beyond, and often to be found lending musical uplift on road protest sites and festivals. Such connections, with the cutting edge of political stances, lends their lyrics a sharp social slant; beautiful music with intelligent message.

The best example on this album is ‘Only Doing My Job’; a cutting lyric classic. Viewed through the eyes of the veal-crate lorry driver whose vehicle killed animal rights protestor Jill Phipps last year, the song calls for understanding as well as action. It challenges the arrogance of protestors who think that all people paid by unethical companies should immediately give up their job, even if their families' immediate survival depends upon it.

And at the same time it leaves the listener in no uncertain doubt that ‘only doing your job’ can mean to kill. Play on this crew. Play on. And how about a lyric sheet?

Available from Shannon and Theo,
Kingshill, Cockmill Lane,
East Pennard, Shepton Mallet, Somerset BA4 6TR
Tel: 01926 499 385 or 01749 860 660

Jhelisa - Language Electric

Dorado 1997 - all formats
review by DJ Seed

Having been brought up surrounded by gospel and soul music, the Anderson family - which include Carleen from The Young Disciples and Vicki from D-Note - branched out and moved to the UK. The result is a stunning geneology of sensuality and social comment with Carleen writing and singing the excellent Young Disciple’s hit ‘Apparently Nothing’ and Vicki delivering the vocals with D-Note.

Having sung on The Shamen’s ‘Phorever People’, Jhelisa Anderson went solo with London's independent Dorado records, and gifted the world with her first album ‘Galactica Rush’, the four track acoustic EP ‘Galactica Moods’ (containing the most beautiful song in the world ‘Hold My Peace’) and now ‘Language Electric’. Her vocals are simply so tuneful and soulful you can barely believe she's singing about incest in ‘That’s Bullshit Woody’ or forced marriages in the gorgeous(!) ‘Sell Me Away’. It’s also difficult to believe that for her, “This whole songwriting thing is still new to me, it’s kind of uncomfortable”.

On the whole Language Electric is a more thoughtful and darker collection of tunes than its dancier predecessor, although the cruising funk of ‘Everybody Drop Off’, ‘drops’ on a dance floor. Keep your nerves about you though for the bloodcurdling scream five minutes after the album's finished!

Despite having a talent which could easily break on global scale (a la Seal), Jhelisa admirably sticks with an independent label in the name of creative freedom. As a result you might not have come across her amidst the deluge of music marketing, but for all those who love melody, funk and fantastic female singers with socially relevant lyrics, a date with Jhelisa should be hastily arranged. “The spirits are coming”; the spirits are here.

Spearhead - Chocolate Supa Highway

Capital 1997 - all formats
review by DJ Seed

Dynamite business from the doyens of conscious rap and funky hip-hop. Those already exposed to the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy or to Spearhead's first album ‘Home’, will appreciate Michael Franti as a supremely sharp lyricist. The talent that brought us the seminal ‘Television, Drug Of The Nation’, develops his art yet further on ‘Chocolate Supa Highway’.

It is both rare and refreshing to hear such politically on-it lyrics stung at you from a frolic of funky hip-hop: “Yes I remember the time in Oklahoma/you tried to blame an Arab but the whitey was the bomber” and “Don’t get thee behind me Satan/ I’ll keep thee in front so I can kick thee in the ass and/assassinate all your wicked inventions/ your new world order and your global intentions/not to mention the department of corrections….. in the belly of the beast only God hears confessions”.

Spearhead’s latest offering is more edged with the urban than the last album ‘Home’, with Franti twisting his vocals inventively around the kind of social observations which only emanate from the streetwise and conscious: “Shooting funky venom from my sharp teeth injectors/not to vex ya but yes to resurrect ya/cos I can’t stand the pain outside my window”. But Franti and his crew are far from just spitting politico’s, there’s plenty of sensuality, herbal praise and laughter mixed in with the lyrical barb.

What is obvious is that Franti feels totally at home with his lyrics, a familiarity fuelled by the captivating acapella solo poet/rap shows he performs. As a consequence his delivery is playfully peppered with one-line melodies from tunes you just know you know. All of a sudden he’ll drop in four-note ‘mouth samples’ from ‘Swing low sweet chariot’, Earth Wind and Fire’s ‘September’, the Rolling Stone’s ‘Satisfaction’ and a multitude of other classics, the names of which perch on the tantalised tip of your tongue, refusing to drop off.

The new album also gives thanks and praise for Bob, with an authentic-to-the-max version of ‘Rebel Music’, a co-sung and co-produced collaboration between Franti and Bob’s son Stephen Marley. If you can’t scrape up the lolly yerself then for God’s sake organise a communal whip round, no-one will dispute the fruits.