have been getting washed away by the
revived rock/pop tsunami. All it takes is one album to spark
it up again. Black Grass have enjoyed success with there
EP releases and the album has been widely anticipated. Well,
it’s here now and it’s a monster. Cobbling together
Hip-hop, soul, dance, reggae, Jazz & blues Black Grass
have created a beautiful musical patchwork to proudly spearhead
electronic music in 2004. This album puts them up there with
the likes of Groove Armada & Basement Jaxx, but unlike
the slightly disappointing releases from the afore mentioned
artists this album hasn’t been compromised for the
sake of pop music. That’s why the Blackgrass album
is a gleaming masterpiece.
The Black Grass story is centred on Brighton,
where Mex and Carl Faure share a flat, a studio and an outlook.
But not much else. Mex hails from Fulham, via Worthing, is
32 and has a deep and abiding love for hip hop and the breaks
that fuel it, to which end he's recorded the classic “Spunky
Love Fun” and “Yoghurt Mudflap”, followed
it with one EP, 'Well Done Big Trak' (as The Mexican), released
a couple of battle records and seen his Clockwork Voodoo
Freaks alter ego find favour with compilers from 'On The
Floor At The Boutique' to Fat City's 'Mystic Brew' series.
He was also resident at Brighton's revered hip hop throwdown,
Knowledge Of Self. Carl - a Brummie by birth - is almost
ten years his junior, has a background in drum'n'bass, house
and nu jazz (his DJ residency was at the Brighton incarnation
of Off Centre as well as highly regarded remixes for the
likes of Bushy and Quantic). Despite their misgivings, they've
decided to team up and see what each other had to offer. "I'm
discovering the future, he's discovering the past," admits
Mex.
It's not been without its difficulties
(either will still change the record the minute the other
nips to the bog) but together these two have made an album
- self-titled, in the grand tradition of classic debuts – that
embraces the best that modern music has to offer. The concept
of eclecticism has been worn out by those who barely know
the meaning of the word but anyone who loves hip hop, jazz,
soul, chill out (if you must), reggae, house, 80s groove
or UK garage will find something for themselves in this.
And anyone who believes that the best music is born in nightclubs
and nurtured by an open mind has just found a companion for
life.
Of course, you have to do more than simply
dip your brush in a few different palettes to paint a masterpiece.
Mex and Carl don't just tackle a variety of sources; they
do them all with style. UK hotshot Blak Twang turns in a
typically explosive lyrical performance over hard hitting
guitar and horns on current single ‘Easy’, while
'Reprise' melds the menacing bass sound beloved of UK garage
with the live horns of The Gobstoppers. Best of all, lend
an ear to the basslines of 'Control' and 'Going Home' – floorquaking
80s groove and tough rubbery twang respectively - both of
which are bolstered by the awesome vocals of one Ra Khan,
and ask yourself when you last heard a 'skinny white Australian'
sing such soul. Of course, both Carl and Mex know that the
secret of soul is not where you expect it but where you find
it, a fact underlined by the runaway success of their Catskills-sponsored
weekly club night, Grass Roots, which rotates guests like
drum'n'bass futurists Hospital Records with hip hop archaeologist,
DJ Format. "We're the only people doing that in Brighton," announces
Carl, "not that we're making a big point of it - it's
just the way we are."
Carl knows a thing or two about cross-fertilisation
in music - he's hoping to finish his dissertation on the
subject in time to cope with the demands of promoting the
album. "The relations between genres and between underground
and the mass-market is actually really fluid. You can't
separate out music. The album that we've made is an embodiment
of that idea." Black Grass, though, isn't some bone-dry
academic exercise for hardcore musicologists; it's a celebration
of all that is great in 'club music'. It will move your
feet, soothe your spirit and stir your soul. And, at last,
it's provided Carl and Mex with a record they can agree
upon.
www.catskillsrecords.com
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