Jel
Soft Money
AntIcon

Listen to this in headphones.

It's meant for skinny, dirty, poor people to listen to bootleg copies of on a cheap walkman. It's meant for you to listen to while riding your motor-skooter without a licence while drunk. You're head should bounce at approximately the same beat as this Anticon Fat-Bass.

There are strange bursts of weird turntable sound. There are multi-layered and multi-sectioned songs. There are melody samples that are so on-point you'll think you sampled them yourself. You'll hear that trombone breakbeat. That simple three-note clarinet sample. And that heartbeat never drops below the quality so well set by earlier Anticon releases. These beats do nothing but raise the bar.

In "No Solution" those drums sound so present and clear. And that backup melody reminds me of the town music from Zelda 2. Jel's voice enters to match the clearness of the drums. Hearing Jel rap on this album is a rare treat; word out is that he rarely gets on the mic. Ambiance shifts from ear to ear, in moments of disorientation.

"All Around" is the one I was really waiting for. Stephe Bohm from Ms. John Soda is here. This song is surprisingly not-so-pop. In structure and intent it seems like more of an experiment. And in the end that makes a lot of sense for the pairing of Jel and Ms. Soda.

Jel comes back with "Thrashin". Tape recordings of conversations and deft cuts characterize this sound. In a lot of ways, to me "Thrashin" is an older style Anticon tune. It has that sound. Very dirty beat, and quite experimental. The dirty beat keeps up in "Sweet Cream In It". Jel also brings a dirty-eyed-freak blues guitar into the mix. A sound not many can handle but one that Jel wraps his mind around pretty easily.

That sense of humor so integral to most Anticon releases is certainly present here. Also present in large quantity is the dirty curiosity I've gotten used to in Anticon's sound. A sure-fire recommendation this new Jel album. It's a listener's album, packed full of sounds, best in headphones. Anticon truly just keeps getting better.

Copyright © 2006 Mateo Orillas