CD Reviews
people are people

Cassius' latest album, Au Reve, is so French. Those crazy Europeans have a very distinct electronic sound, somewhat like David Bowie robots casually chattering in a café. You know you're a loser when synthesisers make you poetic. Anyway, this album is definitely not for everyone. The first track is "challenging" as some people put it. Most people will think it's crap-tastic; however, the second track is bouncy and housey and may find its way onto commercial radio. My friend, who turned me onto this album, said he though Au Reve would be big - not Moby big, but Timo Maas big: huge in dance scenes with minor crossover hits. Au Reve has a few nice house tracks that can be marketed to mainstream audiences, but it also has complex melodies and rhythms. It has the mature sound of veteran dance producers. It reminds me a lot of Groove Armada's latest album.

- David Wilson McLeish

Whether it's the furious ear candy of Concrete Schoolyard or the aptly-named Quality Control, Jurassic 5 has never let anybody down. But even for them, the sublimely brilliant, orgasm-inducing Power in Numbers is like... it's just... [si-igh].

Think cerebral, intelligent, underground hip-hop has to be snotty? Think you can't dance to it? J5 is politely telling you to fuck off. Power in Numbers is likely the most solid hip-hop release since the Roots' Things Fall Apart, and the similarities don't end there. Both mark the third release of slept-on groups hell-bent on bringing the tightest shit you never heard, peppered with cross-over tunes aimed at flirting with the pop groupies. The Roots gave mainstream radio "You Got Me," with Erykah Badu, while J5 have released "Thin Line" with Victoria's Nelly Furtado. And you know what, Mr. "Keeping-it-Real?" It's the shit. Tracks like "Freedom," "Remember His Name," and "One Of Them" showcase the group's consciousness, drawing mostly on socialism and Islam to weave relevant moral lessons to tight beats. The invincible flows of "A Day At The Races" and the lead single, "What's Golden," will have jive-ass white boys (like yours truly) biting their lips, bopping their heads, and grimacing like young James Browns. Although Cut Chemist and Nu Mark are given less "deejay-only time" on this album than on past releases, the beatmaking and turntabling on Power in Numbers suffice to renew their lease on supremacy from here until forever. Who else is sampling jazz flutes? Well, why aren't you? If anybody needs me, I'll be under my headphones.
‹

- Charlie Demers

[ Back to issue 8 ] [ Send The Peak a comment on this story ]

The contents of The Peak are protected by copyright. For information on rights regarding specific articles (including reprinting, where applicable), please contact epeak@mail.peak.sfu.ca with the full URL of the content in question.