OK, as stated before the intention of this section is for it to evolve into a full blown review section of all the CD's I've bought this year. So is it yet? In a word: no. I've had a go at writing a 'proper' review of one of the CD's I'm going to talk about in a minute - unfortunatly it just didn't work out.



What do I mean by proper review? Well, not wanting to sound like a complete music snob, but a fair proportion of the music I buy is a little off centre, so any review will likely have to start off with a little background history. Then I've probably got to try to articulate what the artist (or compiler in the case of a compilation CD) is trying to, forgive me for saying this: express to the listener. Maybe I should also talk about individual tracks, after all since the invention of the CD quite a few albums are based around tracks which have been specifically intended to be listened to in isolation, ie as Singles, so talking about the album as a whole entity can be a little misleading. Finally I've got to seamlessly blend these concepts together and somehow shoehorn my opinion into the the whole mess...



My first attempt at this was, well... shite. However darthphil.com as you see it now is about two and a half months old, this website has been my first attempt at writing anything vaguely creative since ooh about puberty, give me time and I'm sure I'll get better at it and be comfortable with calling this a review section. Just not yet...



OK, with that caveat out of the way here's a list of the CD's I've been buying recently with some 'thoughts' (not reviews!) on there content:



DJ Spooky - Dubtometry



OK, let me start off by giving it's full title: "DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid featuring Mad Professor & Lee 'Scratch' Perry - Dubtometry" - except this is a damn filthy lie! I've worked it out on a piece of paper with the use of a pencil and calculator and my amazing knowledge of mathematics that Mad Professor's and 'Scratch' Perry's contribution seems to last all of 2 minutes. Anyway, I'm ahead of myself, what's Dubtometry? Well, it's a remix album of what has been argued as being one of the finest jazz/hip-hop crossover albums ever - Optometry. Effectively that was DJ Spooky remixing a bunch of New York Jazz musicians, so I guess this is a remix of a remix. What's it like? Well, very DJ Spooky, in fact it reminds me more of his mix albums than anything - OK that probably doesn't help much if you don't know DJ Spooky, now this is a great disservice to his work, but think traditional hip hop DJ-ing, ie two turntables and a cross-fader, now add a whole heap of reverb and effects - now try to intellectualise that. Hmm, that is a really bad way of describing his work, almost sounds like an insult doesn't it? Time to redeem myself - this CD is very good, you should buy it.



Linkin Park - Meteora



Yeah, yeah you can stop sniggering now, I know... but at least it's not fucking Nickelback. First off: the lyrics suck so hard it's frightening, it's all "you don't understand me", "I'm not very fond of you", and "boo hoo, I'm so sad and misunderstood" - yet, I can't believe I'm going to write this, there is a small part of me that this sort of stuff appeals to - sometimes I swear I stopped maturing, emotionally speaking, around fifteen. Anyway, the good points: well I think Linkin Park do a damn fine line in heavy metal influenced pop music, you can't help but hum along to much of this album, and there are some fine bit's of sampling. The japanese flute on "Nobody's Listening" is particularly inspired.



Painkiller - Talisman



Hurrah, here comes Painkiller and there grindcore dub influenced free jazz to rescue some of my music snobbery. In case your wondering Painkiller are a three piece comrising of Mick Harris (ex-Napalm Death, now doing bass heavy beat driven music as Scorn) on Drums, Bill Laswell (who has worked with everybody in the know universe I think) on Bass, and John Zorn (who I only know from Naked City and God - I won't even try to descibe those two bands) on Saxaphone. This album is a live recording of them in Nagoya Japan from 1994, the first song is called (deep breath now..) Batrachophrenoboocosmomachia and is over half an hour long... Still with me? I actually think this album is quite listenable, Mick Harris's grindcore influences are not as evident as there previous releases its alot more dub influenced, dare I say it quite tuneful in places...



Murs - The Beginning Of The End



I saw Murs live a few weeks ago supporting El-P, this album is released on his label and has the same sheen of quality that seems to be on most Definitive Jux releases. Live, and on this CD he comes across as one of the most amiable MC's in Hip-hop, he never talks down to his audience, he just wants to share his tales of buying Star Wars toys and goofing around on a skateboard with you and me. And these tales will stick in your mind, I was pleasantly surprised to find that most of this album was instantly recognisable even after only hearing the songs once before in a live environment... while I was slighty... OK, not slightly... drunk.



Gold Chains - Young Miss America



Yay! It's the first album from Gold Chains - I have to confess I only just got this about 3 hours ago, so I haven't had much of a chance to listen to it. But, from what I've heard it's the Punk Hip-Hop Disco shit that I'm down with! I'm never sure if Gold Chains is one man or if it's a group - I'm going to assume in my little world it's one person, and I believe his name is Topher Lafata, basically he looks like Dangermouse's assistant Penfold and comes across as a left-wing P-Diddy vocally speaking. Intrigued?