2010年 Jul 6日 Tuesday, 11:26
Track: 2,000 Leagues Under My Keyboard
Artist: Dutch
Album: A Bright Cold Day (June 2010)
Tags: experimental, trip-hop, dark, ethereal, my gang rotw
Video: Click the pic…
http://i3.ytimg.com/vi/Br3V_r1fsBM/default.jpg YouTube, audio upload
Cry
You made her cry
And the mountains lay down to listen
My pick this week comes from an album that was three years in the making. A Bright Cold Day is a collaboration between Stoupe of Jedi Mind Tricks and the relative unknown Liz Fullerton under the name Dutch.
Watch: Stoupe and Liz Fullerton Talk About Their New Group, Dutch
2,000 Leagues Under My Keyboard is both sad and fantastical at the same time. The music is as dramatic as any James Bond intro, comprising of an intricate patchwork of elements as disparate as 70s funky guitars, a 60s Hammond organ and 80s hip-hop drums alongside modern day electronica and live instruments.
Liz Fullerton's haunting, plaintive voice soars and swoops, overwhelming the music till at one point, she is all you hear. You don't realise you're doing it till near the end of the track and you're aware of the music again. Her songwriting has a dreamy fairytale quality to it, evoking images of weeping willows, giants and animated mountains as she does here.
The track begins with a spoken introduction, recorded at low volume forcing you to listen closely, before Fullerton comes in with her powerful and beautiful jazzy folk voice. Part Ella Fitzgerald, part Cat Power and Sia to name but a few, Fullerton has the tonal quality and command that puts her in the category of the distinctive and exceptional. She can sing whatever she wants.
I looked for other recordings by her and there aren't any, except for the guest spot she did for Jedi Mind Tricks, Razorblade Salvation on Servants In Heaven, Kings In Hell, and Death Messiah on the A History of Violence album. She also appears on one track, Same Story (My Dedication) Feat. Liz Fullerton, on JMT's Vinnie Paz's new solo album, Season of the Assassin, also released in June.
If Fullerton's background is a sweet, humble folk singer who worked in a coffee shop and was happy to move to record this album, Stoupe's background couldn't be more different. JMT's genius producer, DJ Stoupe the Enemy of Mankind (Kevin Baldwin), is known for his meticulous attention to detail and it's not unheard of for him to incorporate as many as 50 samples on the one track. JMT's lyrics are brutal, intolerant and aggressive, at times difficult to listen to, not so much for the foul language but for the menacing anger, ominous tone and promised violence. If you can get past the tales of Philadelphia and philosophising to Stoupe's music and production, you are treated to a world of wonder. His passion for music, old and new and any genre, is apparent as he deftly puts together snippets and snatches of samples and audio clips that shimmer brightly behind JMT's hard rapping.
http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/500/34919629/Dutch+Liz++Stoupe.jpg
They shouldn't fit. They couldn't be more incongruent. The hard, experienced DJ/producer, solid and rooted to his city; and the young innocent butterfly girl with a voice she didn't know she had.
We'll be left with the shoulders of giants to stand upon
Dutch, then, is a JMT side project. Like a few other albums this year, the album begins and ends with an intro and outro. In between, Stoupe's aim to pull this album together as a film pays off as we go from scene to scene, taking in stories and atmospheres unique to that moment. The disconnected stories chime with Fullerton's own nomadic life - she was born in California, grew up in Mexico and lived everywhere. She is the transient troubadour, ready to relocate any time. Stoupe's heavy beats ground the album, keeping it this side of ethereal, though the music can't be tethered quite as well.
Jedi Mind Tricks are closer to the Wu-Tang Clan, sidestepping the expected and rapping intelligently about a range of subjects, from politics to biochemical molecular structure. From this background, Dutch the side project goes the route of Massive Attack, Zero 7 and Gotan Project, creating something as clever but without the aggression of JMT, destined to reach a wider audience who, like me, might be curious about where it all came from.
Babs
- My Gang
Disclaimer: Mines
http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/146/l_ebb87e397e4a44e18f163e72d84cc34f.jpg
Admin: Stats as of today:
Last.fm listeners of this track - 70 (stats for "2,000…" not "2000…"
No. of plays scrobbled in Last.fm - 278
Position in Last 7 Days: n /a
Position in Last 6 Months: 20 / 3
Video
Date Added: July 03, 2010
Views: 20, Comments: 0, Favourited: 0 times, Ratings: 0
Stats after 7 days:
Last.fm listeners of this track - 88
No. of plays scrobbled in Last.fm - 454
Position in Last 7 Days: n /a
Position in Last 6 Months: 20 / 3
Video
Views: 87, Comments: 0, Favourited: 0 times, Ratings: 0
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