|
|
|
|
Sophomore effort from the turntables-double bassist combo sees them embracing the concept of space… for your face. This album is definitely a progression for them from their debut “Superhero Music” album, which saw them creating great soundscapes using just decks and bass. This worked well but for the next effort, they obviously had to take it up a notch. On this album, the drums are a lot more intricate and there is a lot of vision in terms of what effects are used to progress the sound. So, this time, scratch effects are put through vocoders and the bass is used as an electric organ or as a delay board. All manner of tricks are used to make Fingathing sound bigger. The tunes are funkier and there is even some grimy prog rock old skool hiphop to get down to. As a concept, the whole space/band kidnapped thing is nothing more than the odd vocal insert. It probably works better for the band than the audience. The sad thing about the album is that it sounds great on paper, but in execution the results are a little more varied. The songs are too long and there is not enough in the arrangements of each song to keep it interesting and sustain it for the entire album. Thus, towards the end it does start to grow tiresome and it doesn’t have the feel of an endlessly playable release. It does show some great musicianship and some amazing skills. It also shows the turntables as an instrument, so as an example of turntablism, it’s excellent. However, as pieces of music, there is simply not much going on. The arrangements hold nothing more than building up all the instruments, taking some of them away and then slowly bringing them back in. I hope it works better live because Fingathing’s live presence is certainly strong. However, like most great live bands, they can’t quite recreate that energy and buzz in the studio, without a crowd to feed off, or improv with each other in a performance arena. It’s a shame because it’s a good album trapped by mediocre execution.  Related Links:
© ukhh.com 1999 - 2003 |
Fingathing and the Big Red Nebula Band LP