Para A Form Of Awareness (mixtape)
The last few years have seen the medium of the mixtape diverging into two evermore different products. there’s the compilations with a bit of cutting and scratching at the peripheries of other acts’ records and then there’s recordings where the way in which the compiler arranges and manipulates other acts’ work is more important than the tape’s raw materials. There’s a vast difference between mixtapes based on who the compiler knows and those based on what the compiler knows how to do. Toward the lower reaches of the creative spectrum wallow bottom-feeding characters like Kay Slay whose compilations exploit the credibility of more famous acts and their manufactured beefs for personal advancement. Close to the top of the spectrum however is Para from Swindon-based crew Creative Control whose A form of awareness is an awesome extravaganza during which Para tests the limits of his turntables as musical instruments in order to deliver supremely entertaining music.
The inclusion of a snippet of Gilbert & Sullivan’s Modern Major General is an apt description of Para’s talent as a compiler and deejay. It would be a gross understatement to say that each of the nine sequences that make up this mix CD comprise an astounding range of material. Every couple of seconds the mix shifts from the starkest stadium power-rock break through to the corniest piece of easy listening via a stack of breakbeats all Laced with a throng of quirky soundbites and snippets ranging from The Daleks through to the cast of obscure channel 4 sitcom, Nightingales. It’s not just about the selection. The project’s second track, is a jam-packed three minutes where the conceit of a one-man band is used as an opportunity for Para to indulge in some hyperactive manipulation of everything from swanny whistle melody through to a eukaleli lick, carving them up with every scratch at his disposal and then some. When every track here finds him continually juggling and beat-matching countless elements it’s hard to believe he doesn’t have five decks and four pairs of nimble hands forever on the go. As eclectic and creative as Para’s selection and presentation is, there’s always just enough of the familiar breaks not to totally lose the listener. this is about musical creativity and not merely showing off his record collection after all. Sufficed to say, Para leads a magical mystery tour without any ideological or conceptual destination. This project must have taken ages to put together, not just to mix but to compile in the first place and yet proceedings maintain a startling sense of spontaneity throughout.
Ben Elton opens proceedings with his introduction of “Captain paranoia” and he is but the first of a motley procession of Other hosts and commentators drawn from ‘70s and ‘80s pop culture including Chaz & Dave, and Rolf Harris (who appears at different points in proceedings to coach Para through his sequences). Commentators not only add ironic commentary (eg: Adam West’s batman saying this could be the break we were looking for") but are often scratched up to add new layer of rhythm to these dynamic episodes. Of course there’s a few words dropped in by the old guard of juggle-worn quotables such as KRS, Big Daddy Kane, dela Soul, Nas, Run DMC et al. However, when several different rappers are found to have said the same thing, it's remarkable how unoriginal hiphop can get.. – luckily emcees are but one grouping of the sonic props scattered and then toyed with en route during this roaming demonstration of Para’s extraverted sound that finds him making crazy shapes out of everything from chicken clucks through to Arthur Lowe narrating the Mr Men – all over backdrops flipping between Prog Rock and TV themes. In fact, the project plays for nearly half an hour without playing more than a line from any rap record because this is a hiphop mixtape and not a rap compilation.
It is not until the seventeen minute long track 5 that a significant portion of a rap record gets played out. Here the selection of more well known breaks help to dove-tail between extracts from Mcenroe’s Billy’s vision, Murs’s Def Cover, Life’s I really care, and a handful of other scratched-up rap elements including extracts from Sage Francis’s Hey Bobby. Alas! Eventually even this supposed hiphop core of the project wanders off course into more random breaks, scratching and a speech by Martin Luther King Jr about racial segregation. MLK’s appearance invites comparison with a recent release on Female Fun records. However, unlike much of j-rawls’s Histories Greatest Battles, Campaigns & Topics, Para's political speech has a lovely snugly sax loop that’s entertaining in it’s own right. Before the sequence gets a chance to even think about settling down and panning out, the speech is usurped by a full play out of Eyedea’s weird side – albeit via elements from records by Josh Martinez and Blackalicious. Once this seemingly random sequence draws to a close, a neat implied narrative emerges where by there is a progression of ideas from talking about an emcee’s cares, through talk about segregation through to KRS’s claims that “the only solution is organised revolution” until finally reaching the conclusion with the break “love is the message!”
fraught with countless unannounced hairpin turns and dramatic abrupt twists, A form of awareness is like an hour-long white-knuckle ride at the centre of a gaudy theme park dedicated to the most camp moments from the last thirty-five years of radio TV and vinyl. Still, like any fairground ride, there’d be no exhilarating downward hurtles or brain-churning loop the loops without anticipation first being wound-up by slow and nerve-shredding upward climbs. Apart from the rare moments when he lets a rap record play out, Tracks 4, 6, 7 and 9 are, much like comparable lulls and interludes on Buck65 records, subdued beat-tracks with atmospheric, often arrhythmic ghostly scratching over them. Such tracks are essential at several points in proceedings to both serve as respite from what has gone before them and to offer a moment of lull before it all once again kicks off big time.
Track 8 is more than twenty minutes long and it is here that the project’s most striking routines are to be found. At the heart of this track is An incredible series of themed set-pieces where Para matches, juggles and cuts up breaks and samples on a journey that joins the musical dots between one routine celebrating all of hiphop’s elements based around Pink Floyd’s Brick in the wall through some run dmc and the captain caveman intro spiel into a brilliant sequence where The Muppets and their theme mingle with The Beastie Boys’ Interglactic among other loops. It is the first four minutes however that represent the project’s centre piece. Para unleashes an amazing Starwars medley where, after some synthetic Russian circus music, the kitsch theme and cantina music set the stage for characters droids and aliens to speak their piece.
Para’s sensational Starwars routine throws up the project’s two minor flaws. The first fault concerns defective recording and mastering. Unfortunately, There are a couple times when bass-heavy breaks sound overloaded which can mar enjoyment of this otherwise marvellous mix. On the flipside of the distortion, life’s track sounds very tinny like it was played into the mix on an old cassette. The second, more debatable, flaw concerns the degree to which Para fails to take advantage of the medium of the CD. His mix’s first three tracks have three very specific purposes (establishing his name, showing off his scratchtastic skills and showcasing his break compiling credentials respectively) but from then on, track division appears arbitrary. Sure, there is further division between the brief interlude tracks and the mammoth workout seshes but these workouts themselves could be broken down into smaller portions. The Starwars composition at the top of track 8 can be seen as a self-sufficient unit because there is a definite point of closure around 8.45 after which the mix assumes a different tone and tempo. Also pertaining to track 8, once past the Muppets and pink Floyd set-pieces, a divider at around 14.16 would be good because, buried deep into the sequence, there’s a set piece when snippets from an anti-natal instructional record introduce a routine where adorable baby gurgles are scratched up over a silly electronic interpretation of Ponchielli’s dance of the hours deserves attention. This criticism is open to debate because, on the one hand, unlike a mixtape, the listener can’t pick up where they left off and so may have to listen for up to ten minutes just to get to the sequence of interest. On the other hand, Mixes are about the journey, not the destination and when Para has been able to perform tracks 3 and 8 in one go, that’s perhaps how they should be appreciated – there certainly is something new and interesting to find with each new audition of this bounteous presentation.
- Sumo Kaplunk | profile
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