Frenchy’s Fracas

General Description
Artist/Band: Visioneers ||
Album Title: Dirty Old Hip Hop
Year: 2006

Excellent grooviness..

How I Got Into This Music
I’ve been enjoying 4hero and Marc Mac’s Chess Cadet All Stars for about a year now. This album’s another of Marc Mac’s projects and I just had to listen to it..

Google Search for reviews of this album || Album details at Artistdirect.com || || Discogs ||

Tracks that got my attention:
Replay ft. Voice
Mellowness taking the listener on a flashback trip through the history of quality rap musicians and producers like A Tribe Called Quest, Jazzy Jeff, Gangstarr and The Pharcyde. Love the smooth vocals by Voice.

Runnin’
Never thought people would be so smitten with the original version by The Pharcyde, but I ain’t complaining! I remember hearing the intro of this version with Hieronymus Fox and we were both jumping like happy kids; when we noticed it was an instrumental version, we stopped acting silly.. for about thirty seconds

The World Is Yours
Laidback bass and keyboards, catchy loops. Love the bass solo, but not that much else happening.

Funk Box ft. Capitol A
Familiar vocals by Capitol A, who also worked with Jazzanova. Basic quality, groove and funkiness.

It’s Simple
A very relaxed version of Simple Folk, a track from Marc Mac’s project from yesteryears, The Chess Cadet All Stars.
More jazzy influences, the flute working some nice magic in the background with the guitar, and that bass? Love it.

Dirty Old Bossa Nova
Damn, got me scanning all my CD’s from A Tribe Called Quest, grmbl.. Hold on.. Nope, I give up, can’t find it, argh!
Back to the track itself: lovely bossa groove!

Run For Cover
Yep, pure gold. Great way of using a central theme in the track, and then the sudden double tempo variant at the end? Great stuff!

55 Dollars
Oooooh.. Flashback to all those TV series from the seventies. Love the horns..

Paul’s Guitar Story
Hmmm, jazz guitar track, sounds nice, just a bit too bland for my taste.

Days Gone By (Egyptology)
Much better guitar work on this track. The track sounds a bit like Jill Scott’s Slowly Surely, I’m sure that’s intentional since they’ve worked with eachother in the past on Jill’s Experience album.

Conclusion
I think my love for previous work by Marc Mac and 4hero has kinda spoilt me a bit. Dirty Old Hip Hop is a great album and very tightly produced too. But… For me, there’s not a lot of new things happening. That’s why this album’s not one of my Favorites. Still very curious to hear the remix version called Dirty Old Remixes!

Rating:

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General Description
Artist/Band: 4Hero
Album Title: Play With The Changes
Year: 2007

British producers, global quality..
 
How I Got Into This Music
To the best of my recollection, the first track I heard from them was back in 2000/2001 (not sure), a weird and weak 70s rip-off track, called Les Fleur. That song really got me all agitated and the video was even worse; it all just got under my skin for being such a blatantly cheap copycat action. But, it still stuck in that vast grey bucket of trivia called my brain, referenced under Crappy Rip-offs That Are Kinda Interesting.
Flash forward to 2006: I discover this insane album called How About A Game Of Chess? thru the nice people at Last.fm. And I find out that the guy behind that album, Marc Mac is one half of a band called 4Hero, and that triggered other stuff: these guys also worked on a track with miss Jill Scott, called Gotta Get Up (Another Day). Still with me?
So, it turns out that 4Hero were the people behind the aforementioned abomination Les Fleur, a great Jill Scott track and that Chess album. A coupla months back this new album by 4Hero came out and I just had to try it out…

Album info at Answers.com || Album details at Artistdirect.com || Google Search for reviews of this album ||

Tracks that got my attention:
Morning Child ft. Carina Andersson
Same lady doing the vocals as Les Fleur, but now somehow, it works for me. The other weird thing, the horns remind me of Toto’s Georgy Porgy (later covered by Eric Benet).

Take My Time ft. Jack Davey
Nasty and innocent vocals, love it.. Never heard of J*Davey but I might check it out soon.

Look Inside ft. Face
Hmm.. Just a bit too up-tempo for me, gets anoying some times.

Sink Or Swim ft. Lady Alma
Retro Soul, incredibly catchy bass loop and chorus. And some very sweet vocals!

Give In ft. Darien Brockington/Phonte
Oooooo… This track helps me get through the worst of moods, calms me down, makes me enjoy the rainy day. Compact cameo rap by Phonte of Little Brother.

Play With The Changes ft. Talita Long/Harry Mizell
A friend of mine (hiya Tama!) thought the first part of this song sounded like something done by Sergio Mendes; hadn’t thought about it like that, but she was right. The second part is my favorite: added beat is simple, effective and incredibly groovay.

Something In The Way ft. Bembe Segue/Kaidi Tatham
Nothing wrong with this track, it’s great. But it does get skipped sometimes.

Stoke Up The Fire ft. Face
Impossible to skip! The bass on this song is just superb, it’s all over the place while still managing to function as part of the rhythm section. Gonna cost me some months of annoyance but I’ll be trying this one out with my bass teacher. He’ll probably just grin insanely: the pupil’s getting in way over his head again

Awakening ft. Ursula Rucker
New mantra:
I must and shall listen to more stuff by Miss Ursula Rucker
I must and shall listen to more stuff by Miss Ursula Rucker
I must and shall listen to more stuff by Miss Ursula Rucker
This lady’s been on the edge of my musical radar since her work with Jazzanova, Circe (from The Remixes 1997-2000). But I never took the time to seriously get into her music; an entry on my To Listen List..
Back to the song; this one reminds me of United Future Organization: like the soundtrack to some 70s cop movie or TV show. Miss Rucker’s vocals/poetry flows smoothly, carrying a poignant message about The Message.

Sophia
Great one to enjoy while driving the car along the Maasboulevard into Rotterdam, with its beautiful skyline. (And no, I ain’t getting paid one cent for this endorsement, cheap bastards..)

Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You) ft. Terry Devos
What can I say? The first part takes getting used to, but knowing what’s coming after that is worth stealing Fire (and the Comfy Chair) from the Gods.
Terry Devos’ voice takes your breath away, this cover of the Stevie Wonder classic is perfect!

Bed Of Roses ft. Jody Watley
Who’d thought Miss Jody Watley would still be active in this crazy music business? She used to be in the 80s groove band Shalamar and some of us senior citizens remember her for that classic catch phrase: “Hasta La Vista, Baby” (Yep, Arnie stole that one..). She’s also one of the few US artists that contributed to the classic Band Aid track, Do They Know It’s Christmas?.
Enough trivia, this is a great collaboration: UK Garage/Soul mixed with US vocals. Catchy as hell!

Our Own Place
Don’t know who’s doing the vocals, but they’re nice. Reminds me of Zero 7.

Dedication To The Horse
An unexpected way to finish the album, but the guitar work works for me. Just gotta keep from playing this track while driving, I cannot keep on getting those speeding fines

Conclusion
First album from these guys I’ve listened to and I like it a lot. Not sure if I’ll be checking out their previous work, more curious about what they’ll be doing on a next album. Their work is solid and mature, there’s this sense of cocky independence: This Is How We Do It, And That’s That. I like that in a musician and 4Hero are excellent craftsmen. I’ve played this album in my car for three weeks straight and now, while listening to it again for this review, I still love it very much: a Frenchy’s Favorite, indeed!

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General Description
Artist/Band: The Chess Cadet All Stars AKA Marc Mac
Album Title: How About A Game Of Chess?
Year: 2005

My kind of weirdness!
How I Got Into This Music
One of those late discoveries through the lovely people at Last.fm. I was just browsing their excellent music selection and came across this album (can’t remember which track precisely). Finally got the album in september 2006 and was totally and completely mesmerised.
The Chess Cadet All Stars is a one-off project by mister Marc Mac, one half of 4hero.

Google Search: Reviews of How About A Game Of Chess? | This artist at Last.fm

Tracks that got my attention:
Intro
Heheh, setting the theme and style - a short sample from some Asian action movie (at least, it sounds like it)

Simple Folk
I remember some nitwit commenting on the repetition on this track; he still has use of his left arm on occassion and he can feel a rain storm coming just by the itching in his right hand..
Seriously, I love the repetition: adding little layers to the ground beat and piano sample is beautiful!

Space Cadet
Man, that beat.. It’s something from the Caribbean, not quite sure.

See Me Smile ft. Etta James
Hmm. my least favorite track; I don’t mind the vocals but they just don’t blend that well for me.

Blue Phil
Movie theme music, I can imagine Guy Richie using this for his umpteenth comeback movie

Tune For God
The weirdness expands into saxophone loops

Take The Queen
The Melancholy is all over this track. Thanks to that creep Moby, I started hating blues vocals being looped in a track. Take The Queen is the antidote.

A Bad Minute
50s/60s brass and strings mixed with some very heart-wrenching dialogue

Pick A Colour
I had to get used to the piano loops and high-pitch keyboards, but after a while I really loved this track. Listen to the beats in the background.

Sandman
Impossible to describe, but here goes. Another 90 second track with a great beat, lovely strings and general grooviness

No Bread No Peace
This track just gets to me everytime. When the music starts blending into the intro-monologue, I get all mellow. It’s the tear-filled guitar and horns, they’re beautiful!

Got U In Check
Lovely, lovely, lovely! Oh man!! It’s a lullaby with a cool beat. That’s it, beauty in simplicity!

Alone Me And The Sea
Damn! Still not sure who’s being sampled here, but my guess is Stephanie Mills. The mood on this track is total MellowDrama.

Dell’s Bells
A great track for a long drive.

Slide Bishop Slide
Subtle Arabian Nights flavored track with some crazy horn samples.

Latin Gold Theme
Instant dance classic! It’s a great remix/remake of I Am the Black Gold of the Sun track from the Nuyorican Soul album; a classic album by the boys of Masters At Work.

Conclusion
One of my all-time favorite albums ever! It’s got the precise balance of weirdness, beats, loops and orchestration that gets me jumping with joy everytime I listen to it. I still can’t get bored by it. I can’t explain it to other people, so just go and try to find the album and listen to it..

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