Intro and Junkie XL Review

Although 2o2p is a game oriented site I wanted to use my blog space to talk about one of my other past times that I enjoy. So for the most part I will be using this area for music reviews. I tend to buy a lot of music; at least I consider it a lot. If you applied Cranefolder gaming budget categories to music buying then I would consider myself a Donald Trump. Who preorders CDs the nanosecond they are available? Me. Who has difficulty leaving a music store with out 3 or 4 CDs? Me again. And who buys the extra gear with the album? Yes, I am that cat. And besides carnal exploits and playing video games, not much brings me greater pleasure then spending the afternoon combing new and used CD stacks or flipping dusty records looking for something new to take home with me. Predominantly I listen to indie/underground hip-hop and electronic music so my reviews will mainly encompass those genres. Also, I will not necessarily be reviewing strictly new releases but rather any new entries into my collection that I find noteworthy. If the CD happens to be a bust then plan on reading an evisceration, especially if its from an artist I like and they happen to scorn me with a disappointing release....which leads me to the next entry.

My first review is of Junkie XL’s “A Broadcast from the Computer Hell Cabin” a CD which I’m not sure I can adequately describe how bad it is. This album is a complete disappointment. Normally Junkie XL delivers high quality house music but this latest offering fails on all accounts. Maybe it was my expectations on the CD were not what he was trying to accomplish but instead of good house he serves up a fetid dish of rock/electronic hybrid music. Not something that I detest, I just hated the way he presented it. Nothing on this album works correctly. The vocals are horrible and clash with some really terrible beats. Not only that, the continual mixing is like a slow motion train wreck.

At first I thought that the fact that he continually mixed a CD that should have probably been split up into singles was what really grated on me. So I slapped the CD in the player a hit shuffle. No help there, there is not a single song that works properly on the album. For example, mixing in Elvis’ “A Little Less Satisfaction” was probably the worst idea for an electronic song since the last Cher album.

The only thing that saves this CD from being sacrificed to the recycle bin is the second CD. Now this is what I wanted, Junkie XL serves up a really nice house offering. Good mixing and tight beats. Your friends would actually get down and boogie to this at a party. In fact, if you like house music I can actually recommend the second CD pretty highly. It’s not a breathtaking CD like John Digweed’s “MMII”, but then again, what is?

So over all, on my patented “Mr. Lif Scale of Awesomeness” where 10 represents “I Phantom”, an album breathed to life by the holy spirit himself, and 1 represents “Black Dialogue”, or the most heinous abuse of earth’s natural resources imaginable, I’d give “A Broadcast from the Computer Hell Cabin” a 2.5. The second CD would rank about a 6 or 7 but the whole album sinks because the second disk is packaged with that freaking albatross of a first disk.

In closing, here are some albums I can’t stop listening to: 1) Thievery Corporation “Richest Man in Babylon”. What took me so long to get this album I’ll never know. 2) RJD2 “Since We Last Spoke”…1976, if you don’t boogie to this jam you’re probably dead. 3) Nick Warren “Global Underground: Shanghai #028”, this CD set will probably overtake “MMII” as my favorite House CD.