Ghostface - The Pretty Toney Album

Def Jam Recordings: 2004

This is the exact moment when Ghostface Killah surpassed any need of Wu-Tang association as a hip-hop talent. Following The Pretty Toney Album, it was clear Mr. Coles was on a totally different level as a solo MC compared to his Clan fam’, and could carry on a successful career without them should he so choose - yep, Wu-Tang breakup rumours were rampant at this time. Fueling that gossipy narrative was the fact nary a Clan member nor their second and third tier MCs have guest verses on this album, a first for any of the group's solo LPs (RZA and True Master did contribute a couple productions though). It led to ridiculous amounts of speculation over whether there was beef between Ghost and Wu-Tang, which he immediately quashes with an opening mock interview skit, but it'd be a few years before it finally simmered away.

There was another factor to all the talk, however; with The Pretty Toney Album, Ghostface was the only Clan member to have a standout solo album up to that point in the new millennium (though Masta Killa's debut wasn't too far ahead). Granted, hindsight's shown that LPs from GZA, Inspectah Deck, and so on weren't awful, but it seemed no one else was maintaining the creative fire that propelled Wu-Tang through the '90s like he was. Def Jam must have believed as much, signing him once his deal with Epic passed, all but cementing his status among the upper hip-hop echelon. Good thing Mr. Coles gave them solid albums and confirming their support was justified, unlike some other Wu members (sorry, Meth').

As The Pretty Toney Album was his debut on Def Jam, the album comes off like a showcase for Ghostface’s various styles of MCing. Okay, he tends to have only one style, a near-breathless stream of conscious attack filled with hyperbole and slang, but his preferred topics range from street tales, near pornographic come-ons, or persona acting. Most of his albums find him sticking to one, but not here. We get various crime sagas with Biscuits, Run (along with Jadakiss), and It’s Over, while relationship shit goes down in Save Me Dear, Tooken Back, and Push (with Missy Elliot at the summit of her powers). A few other topics are scattered about, like Ghost simply spitting fire over lesser MCs (Ghostface, Beat The Clock), plus his obligatory softy song in Love. I can’t say all of these are Tony Starks at his absolute best, but it’s a great primer if you were just getting into his music (a decade late, somehow).

And the beats? Man, you better love them old funk and soul jams, because Ghostface loves them so much, he barely alters his samples at all. At least a third of these tracks is just him rapping over the original songs from the ‘60s and ‘70s, a few tweaks and edits the only noticeable difference, though I honestly don’t know for sure. My knowledge of the soul classics is the bunk.

Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine

TVT Records: 1989

S’up, Nine Inch Nails? Remember when I went on a binge of your music a while back, nearly every month having a review for you? It’s been a year and a half since I last wrote about you though, and that flame I felt for Reznor’s vocals, dense industrial rock production, and album craftsmanship has dwindled some. Maybe it was only meant to be a brief flirtation anyway, as so many explorations outside one’s comfort zone go. I’ve no doubt I’ll return to The Downward Spiral and Ghosts I-IV at some point, but did I really need to indulge The Fragile? Perhaps not, but it was good for me at the time, so no regrets at this late point. And yet, after such a long dearth of NIN in my diet, I get to tempt my palette once more with the album that started it all, Pretty Hate Machine.

Hmm, it tastes… kinda’ plain? Oh dear, this really is a debut album, isn't it. I give Reznor all the credit in the world for persevering with his passion project, but it’s clear there’s quite a bit of musical growth ahead of him. The song-writing is rather straight-forward for industrial rock, though considering ol' Trent was helping define the genre at the time, that's not surprising. Still, it was Reznor's bold experimentation in the ensuing decade that intrigued me, and Pretty Hate Machine is in old-school mode, owing more to gothy new wave and early EBM than thrash metal and dense sonic manipulations. It’s a sound many, many, many others would emulate throughout the ‘90s (some undoubtedly inspired by Nine Inch Nails), so doesn’t come off as sonically amazing compared to Reznor’s later efforts. Plus, there’s a sense he’s still playing a bit with conventional rock song writing, mostly intent on getting his lyrics across with rhythms and melodies in service of them. Ah well, it’s better to learn the rules before you break them anyway (erm, even if industrial was all about breaking rules to begin with).

Honestly though, I'm more fascinated by the process Pretty Hate Machine came into being and the success that came with it. No matter your taste in music, you have to admire Reznor's gumption, creating his demos during studio downtime while working as a janitor. Then he settles on TVT Records to release it, a label that wasn’t known for much of anything beyond soundtracks and scores even then (though they did release The Timelords music too – maybe that’s what attracted Reznor to TVT?). Following that, a whole lot of underground buzz bloomed, Nine Inch Nails finding an audience with tech-savvy metalheads and the like who dug on those cold electronics with the guitar riffage and angsty singing. Soon enough, Pretty Hate Machine is hailed a classic, even though Reznor was quick to move on from it. It goes to show if you have the dedication, you can accomplish anything. Okay, it also doesn't hurt having something unique as your final product either.

ACE TRACKS: December 2014

December was a little slower on the reviewing front, in part from dealing with a couple double-disc releases, but also general distractions that come at this time of the year. Sure didn’t help some absolute miserable weather in Vancouver gave me a severe case of the SADs, but it’s done and passed. Time to look up as we approach my favorite time of the year, Perihelion Day! Mmm, feel that extra warmth from the sun on the cold winter noon. Anyhow, fewer reviews than normal gives us a smaller list than normal for ACE TRACKS: December 2014, so let’s dig in.


Full track list here.

MISSING ALBUMS:
Paul van Dyk - The Politics Of Dancing
Setrise & Kay Wilder - Poetry Clash
Various - Planet Rave, Vol. 1
Various - Planet Dance
Various - π - Music For The Motion Picture

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 6%
Percentage of Rock: 4%
Most “WTF?” Track: The Orb - Bang ‘Er ‘N Chips (for the title alone)

(note: Percentage Of Neil Young is now Percentage Of Rock, since the original joke doesn’t make as much sense anymore)

Maybe the reason I was feeling so mopey this past month was because all the music I was listening to. It’s not dark or super serious, but it sure feels like more often than not we’re dealing with minor keys. The few upbeat tunes from Todd Terje and Steve Porter just can’t compete with the overwhelming dub techno, melancholic ambient, introspective acid, and angry-as-fuck Ice Cube. Speaking of, he and Jefferson Airplane fit absolutely no where in this playlist, so apologies for how awkward they’ll sound surrounded by modern classical and disco synth.

Not a terribly odd playlist compared to some months then, with a fairly consistent mood for a change. Just don’t play it on cold, grey days.

Ice Cube - The Predator

Priority Records: 1992/2003

Ice Cube warned them, made two albums in two years declaring that the shit was gonna' hit the fan if people didn't pay attention to all the problems affecting inner-city America. Then Rodney King happened, followed by riots, and a promise that proper dialogue and change for the better would finally go down for black communities. Yet, here we are, over twenty years later, and the same ol' strife continues to erupt. Why didn't you warn us again, Cube? Oh, right, too busy making movies and that. Guess it's fallen to the younger generation of rappers to fight the good fight in the name of racial justice.

Just kidding. O'Shea Jackson doesn't need to keep carrying a gangsta' militant torch because he said all that needed to be said back in the day – the fact some of his points on AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, Death Certificate and The Predator still resonate today is a testament to how difficult it's been for America to overcome its racial and social divides. That said, I wager even Cube felt he was running out of topics to rap about that weren’t retreads for this album. It didn’t mean he ran out of issues to rail against, as despite the racial pressure cooker having finally burst, he’s still taking to task corrupt cops and the unjust profiling many blacks and Latinos suffered from. A number of his other heated subjects, however, like homophobia and beefs with other rappers, is left to the back burner. Seems there were more important matters to address than whether a dude’s looking at you queer.

Another thing that’s different in The Predator compared to Cube’s first two albums is more focus on his mack game and even a little light-hearted optimism for a change. Yep, this is the one where ol’ O’Shea waxes pleasantries on It Was A Good Day, as much a sunny LA slice of life as it is a commentary that having nothing go wrong is such a rarity in the gangsta’ routine (fabricated or not). It also gave him his highest charting single outside his traditional US rap market, and quite a surprising one considering the sort of music Cube was known for – not that mainstream American radio would be comfortable promoting hyper-violent dancehall songs like Wicked.

Speaking of, should you get a feeling of Cypress Hill on some of these tracks, that’s because DJ Muggs contributed a few beats (Now I Gotta Wet ‘Cha, We Had To Tear This Motherfucka Up, Check Yo Self). His brand of bouncy funk gives The Predator a bit more variety over DJ Pooh and Sir Jinx’ rugged boom-bap and g-funk, though I cannot deny I’m still missing The Bomb Squad sample-heavy style (who doesn’t though?).

Ice Cube’s third album does run a bit long, the aforementioned limited topics covered growing repetitive by the end. Ignoring that though, The Predator is still prime-era Cube, and absolutely worth your ears’ attention. His words were never more potent, yet remain just as pertinent.

Steve Porter - Porterhouse

Fade Records: 2006

I’m hard pressed to think of another career that’s taken as strange a trajectory as Steve Porter’s. He got his break releasing tunes on Chris Fortier’s Fade Records, joining the ranks of a progressive house/trance/pants scene as it started down the ‘dark prog’ path. These days, he’s known as that guy who makes memetastic sports mash-ups, winning web awards and features on SportsCenter. Hell, he even got the nod of approval from Canadian blow-hard Don Cherry, no small feat considering the short list of things he’ll give any props to. Now, make that connection in your head: from John Digweed to Don Cherry. It just don’t add up!

Confounding this story further is the long in-between those career points, as it shows almost no common link between the two incredibly disparate achievements. Instead, we find Steve Porter supporting funky house music, as daft as any scene to find refuge in the middle of the ‘00s. He had to do something, of course, as the dark prog that defined his early years had fallen out of fashion, most of his peers left adrift to latch onto whatever hot new trend they could adapt to. Most went for the minimal and tech-house brass ring, including some of his Fade label mates; others tried out that electro fad for a time. Upbeat disco and funk though? There were isolated strongholds for the sound, especially in clubs around New York City and Miami, but where was the critical prestige in those fun and gaudy scenes, the buzzword worthiness, the forced narrative of their influence within The Scene at large?

This move on Porter’s part could have been career suicide, and he may have faded off into irrelevancy if he hadn’t found fame with his mash-up videos. On the other hand, chasing trends probably didn’t appeal to him if it meant playing dry-as-desert dirt tech-house or electro-fart nonsense - dance music doesn’t have to be so damn serious nor ‘stoopid’. If losing critical hype is the price paid for pursuing what appeals most to you, then all the more power to ya’, Mr. Porter.

Making his new musical manifesto clear was his first dive into the DJ mix market, Porterhouse. It contains twenty-six tracks, which is impossible to mix on a single CD if you’re still playing prog, but perfectly awesome if you’re playing funky house. And breaks! Holy cow, breaks are mixed in here. Not in the traditional ‘spotlight segment’ either, but throughout as though they have every right existing beside all the four-to-the-floor business. Plenty of instances of prog-house’s chugging rhythms and big melodic moments crop up too, though never to the detriment of keeping the vibe on the up and tempo consistent and relentless. Porter also makes up about half the tunes (including under guises like Chop Shop and Agent 001), so there aren’t many detours away from his sound. Porterhouse doesn’t come off as anything more significant than a mindless diversion then, but I can’t deny it being a fun ride.

The Orb - Pomme Fritz

Island Red Label: 1994

Perhaps the best era to step into The Orb's world as a doe-eyed ambient newbie was around 1995 (yeah, that year again). Though the group's discography was but a third of its current size, the scant choices for an album plunge were bona-fide classics, as decreed by the Ambient Emporium Consortium Collective. Simply walk into a shop and pick any ol' Orb CD you found sitting on the shelves, confident that the plaudits graced upon them were sure and true. That's the theory anyway, and undoubtedly worked fine for those living in the UK or major metropolitan districts with A&B Sounds and Tower Records aplenty. For a west coast Canadian teenager with paltry sums of money, however, paying big bucks for double-disc albums was simply unthinkable (to say nothing of the curious scarcity of U.F. Orb and Orbus Terrarum in those days). But what's this? Why, a little album at half the price of a regular LP. What a perfect entry point, thought I. Surely I will learn all that I need to know about The Orb from Pomme Fritz! Wait, what are you doing with that rug I currently stand upon?

Look, it isn’t much surprise that whatever druggy tomfoolery was going down in The Orb studios would manifest itself with patience sapping experimentation. I guess folks should be thankful it was mostly relegated to this stopgap, and honestly only two tracks at that, titled More Gills Less Fishcakes and We’re Pastie To Be Grill You. There’s irreverent sampling, bizarre tape manipulations, occasional ear-wormy bits that go absolutely nowhere, splashy über-dubbed rhythms, and a few instances of lovely spaced-out synth work.

Fortunately, they took that one good element and made it a prominent feature in Bang ‘Er ‘n Chips, working it into a minimalist excursion into ambient dub. It also features some of the group’s vintage clever style of sampling: a woman talks about wishing upon stars at night (with billions and billions to choose from!), recalling the Little Fluffy Clouds monologue, while an old Saturday Night Live skit about the relaxing nature of electroshock therapy keeps the mood firmly in cheek. Following that, Alles Ist Schoen goes for the ‘dreamy time’ music road, cascading synths galore. Ah, now he gets it, Teenage Sykonee does.

I guess I should mention that the main track off Pomme Fritz, Meat ‘N Veg, has all the above features arranged into the closest thing to an actual song. Yeah, this ‘little album’ is ‘little’ more than variations on it – not really remixes, but Paterson and co. dicking around in the studio with all those elements (apparently the recent re-issue has even more sessions; yay?). Well, except for the final ditty, His Immortal Logness, a ridiculous piece of short music that would feature wonderfully in a parody of stuffy 1700s European chamber gatherings. I like this more than I should, and as a D-side, it’s totally harmless fluff. Frankly, Pomme Fritz comes off like a D-side, one that charted on sheer Orb prestige alone.

Aes Dana - Pollen

Ultimae Records: 2012

Man, another Aes Dana album? How many have I already reviewed? Wait, only two up to now? It sure feels like more than that, though perhaps it's due to frequent appearances on Ultimae's other releases (collaborations, compilation tracks). Such is the benefit of running your own label I guess, though in Mr. Villuis' case, I suspect it’s more a case of enjoying working with the roster than any sort of ego. He's like the new Pete Namlook! Even physical copies of his label's older releases have grown exceptionally rare, demanding high prices on the trader's market. Well, okay, maybe not.

Pollen is Aes Dana's most recent album, coming out when he and Magnus Birgensson (Solar Fields) were aiming for a little uptempo action in their musical output. Then they discovered Miktek, and everyone turned dour and grey. Either that, or these past few years are an attempt at capturing a traditional raver narrative – the exhilarating, high-paced night of prog-psy dancing, followed by a lengthy comedown into dub techno and ambient's sketchy Sunday embrace. If so, what a daring, brilliant, and genius thing to do, turning one's label into an ongoing musical story, the sort of thing any journalist, critic, or blogger would eagerly look forward to writing about! Of course, the odds of this being so are negative five-percent, so I'll drop the absurdity (for now...).

Here's the point where I struggle describing how Aes Dana's sound doesn't stand out the same way the other Ultimae producers do. That, despite enjoying the downtempo glitch of opener Jetlag Corporation and slowbeat dub techno of Borderline, little ever quite sticks in my head where- Wait a minute! Is that a Roland 909 I hear in Conditioned? Holy cow, it is – you just can’t hide those distinct kicks and claps, even with the Ultimae Mixdown™ in full effect. To my recollection, the label’s never used that drum machine, and nor would they either, the house and techno that serves it best simply not part of their manifesto. And I’m not kidding when I said this is Aes Dana at his briskest, follow-up tracks Tree.Some and A Carmine Day some of the highest BPM tunes I’ve heard on any of his albums.

The back-half of Pollen finds Mr. Villuis going to his trusty standard of chill-out music by way of gothic and industrial influence, though even here something new’s been added. Well, new for the time this came out, as all the dub techno stylization became a running theme for the label since. For an initial foray into the sound, however, he accommodates himself quite well, especially so the final, lengthy cut, Low Tide Explorations - calming drone ambience with splashes of soothing field recordings and occasional rhythmic jolts.

For once, I’m happy to report an Aes Dana album has made a memorable impression on me. The fresh ideas from ol’ Vincent here has given us one of his best albums in years. Oh Roland 909, is there no magic you can’t do?

Paul van Dyk - The Politics Of Dancing (2014 Update)

Nettwerk: 2001

(Click here to read my original goddamn novel)

If any of my old reviews needed a proper overhaul, it’s this 2CD DJ mix from the esteemed Mr. Paul van Dyk. I can easily do this within my new self-imposed word count, so let’s get this going. I’ll stick to the facts.

Notwithstanding the hardships I’ve faced in the wake of listening to The Politics Of Dancing again, suffering long, trying reflective self-doubt, wandering listlessly under the cold drizzle of December nights, moist shivers consistently running down my neck like a post-production kick drum. After buying a better winter coat but without the time to properly enjoy its snug warmth, and forcing myself into pondering my past grammatical transgressions, all to restore whatever reputation I’ve earned. This included reading the original 4,000 words I wrote - in its entirety mind you, not just snippets and chunks like most - all to clarify where I went so horribly wrong a decade ago. Let’s just set all that aside, and focus on this release.

It’s been a smart move on Paul’s part keeping his Politics Of Dancing an infrequent event. As a first foray into commercial mixes, the first was a total success, standing out as distinct, unique, and above class from all of van Dyk’s peers, especially at a time when the trance mix CD market was way oversaturated. Even beyond his studio edits giving so many of his chosen tracks a steady, driving rhythm throughout, his selection of tunes can only be seen as brilliantly bold today. Second Sun’s Empire, iiO’s Rapture, Guardians Of The Earth’s Starchildren, 4 Strings’ Into The Night, Blank & Jones’ Secrets & Lies… dear God, what cheesy songs these are, but damn if I don’t get a kick out of hearing them in this mix. It helps that Mr. van Dyk surrounds them with some of the best trance tunes of the day (Viframa’s Cristalle, Mirco de Govia’s Epic Monolith, Subsky’s Four Days), showing faith in these pop leanings having just as much right to co-exist with ‘proper’ underground ‘tings. After all, if you’ve a soft spot for the saccharine, why not wear it on your sleeve?

Where Politics Of Dancing excelled as a trance mix though – and van Dyk forgot for its 2005 sequel - is in the studio editing. Some complained it ruined a few tracks, but I argue it allowed him to construct a craftier set overall. Trance mixes all too often line up their tracks, beatmatch at the appropriate points, and let the songs play out as they are. van Dyk said nuts to that, often using only small portions as lead-ins to the bigger set pieces, and Politics Of Dancing is at its best when he does this – seriously, the boring parts occur when he’s playing out anthem after anthem like any other jock. It’s why TPOD2 comparatively underwhelms, nothing as fun as mash-ups or quick transitions found on those discs. Hope ol’ Paul remembers this facet for number three, but I sadly doubt he will.

Setrise & Kay Wilder - Poetry Clash (2014 Update)

SPX Digital: 2010

(Click here to read my original TranceCritic review)

Oh come on! I know I said in my last 20xx Update that I should treat these posts as an opportunity to improve upon my past writing. That, now with a concise format and dedicated self-restriction, one can read better reviews that don't endlessly ramble on. What I hadn't counted on was dealing with this one as an early attempt. Well, okay, I did know, in that my short queue doesn't change that much, but you aren't all seriously expecting me to write Poetry Clash over? I barely got over four-hundred words on the original, and ain't no way I can manage it again, even with wasting a good hundred with my current griping. The original was written when I was already finding success with brevity anyway, so there's no point in me redoing it. Besides, does anyone care about the exploits of Setrise and Kay Wilder four years on? Yeah, I thought not.

That all ranted, I was curious to see what SPX Digital had been up to. They got their ball rolling towards the tail-end of TranceCritic's run, which had me feeling a little guilty over the promos they kept sending without any response. Not that the website had much impact in the trance scene overall, but for any start-up web label, some exposure is always better than no exposure, even if that exposure sometimes came at the end of a snarky quip. SPX though, I liked a couple of their early singles enough that, should I have found myself in need of looking at their Discogian database again, a small tingle of anticipation would tickle up my neck. Did they last longer than a year? Sign any singles from prominent acts? Premiered any up and comers that are stars today? Branch out into bigger and better things like albums, DJ mixes, and *gasp* CDs?

Nay to all that. Well, unless you consider names like Bryn Whiting and Mysterious Movement unheralded producers of trance. It also appears that SPX’s output sputtered out by the end of 2013, but to make sure it wasn’t a case of folks failing to keep Lord Discogs’ records current, I checked out the SPX Digital website. It no longer exists. Ah well, thirty singles isn’t so bad for a trance label, even a digital one.

As for Setrise and Kay Wilder, neither produced much else of note, though Setrise did last a couple years longer. The Steve Birch Remix of Poetry Clash also got picked up by Christopher Lawrence for one of his DJ mix compilations (Rush Hour), which isn’t too surprising as ol’ C.L. had been a supporter of the ‘real underground trance’ movement Johns Askew and Fleming promoted. Listening back on this single, it remains the best of the lot, as close to the tough, energetic tech-trance as you were likely to hear in those days and beyond. Wait, maybe I’m thinking of the Rob van den Beuken Remix. Gads, this EP’s flittered away from me brainpan. Such is so.

Todd Terje - It's Album Time

Olsen: 2014

I feel like a right idiot for not diving into Todd Terje sooner. Certainly I'd seen his name around, often paired up with Prins Thomas and Lindstrøm, fanciful phrases like 'nu-disco' and 'cosmic house' floating between them to describe their sound. What I failed to realize is these were just trendy buzzwords to describe something that was already rather old but often forgotten: space synth. However, unlike contemporary purists who simply ape the works of old, these guys approached the genre with a jazzy house vibe, not to mention a few influences from the French disco-pop scene of the same yesteryears. Or maybe it's a Scandinavian thing, finding those impeccable ear-wormy bits of musical gold in some of the hokiest music around.

Mr. Terje though, there's another reason I hesitated in seeing what his discography held beyond a few arpy dance tunes: the long delay in tackling the LP format. His first single, Eurodans, came out a full decade past, and he’s stayed within the EP realm for much of that time since (a DJ mix titled Remaster Of The Universe aside - show your ‘80s love a little more, Todd?). There was some good stuff in those records, but as I’ve stuck with CD as my preferred format, it’s primarily limited me to album buying. O’ forlorn t’was my dilemma, denying myself the sexy fun times of Mr. Terje’s output. But lo’, a Christmas miracle t’was afoot, for the Todd-One heard my wails of plight, and saw fit to satisfy my selfish needs for music consumed in hour length chunkettes. Thus, with a bit of a euro-sigh, he committed to the necessity of all aspiring musicians, album time.

Don’t be taken in by that facade. Even if It’s Album Time presents itself with the flair of a lackadaisical lounge lizard forced to diddle away at a piano for sixty year old European tourists, the music within is anything but. Well, okay, it sort of sounds like that too, but good! Obviously I find favour in the out-and-out space synthy cuts like Delorean Dynamite, Swing Star, Oh Joy, and Inspector Norse (dressed in house’s groove). Elsewhere though, Mr. Terje unleashes the cinematic sap in Leisure Suit Preben, down-low disco funk with Preben Goes To Acapulco, sunny italo-house in Strandbar, and general chintzy Latin oddities with Alfonso Muskedunder and Svensk Sås - Señor Coconut, much? Ol’ Todd also offers a lounge ballad with Bryan Ferry in Johnny And Mary, originally a peppy synth-pop tune by Robert Palmer. Hey, if you play the part on the cover, you gotta’ deliver within.

It’s Album Time finally commits the best facet of any album: flowing like an actual album! Even with a few older tunes sprinkled in, this LP is far from an odd-n-sods collection of singles. Todd Terje promised us a proper album experience in the title, and by gum he’s given it to us. Worth your ears’ attention if you’ve the slightest glow for synthy space disco in a modern setting.