Despite my age and outwardly cool exterior, I can’t help it, I’m somewhat of a Bliss N Eso fanboy. But in many ways I think that is one of the misconceptions shared by a lot of hip hop ‘heads’ in this country; to be successful and to be loved by so many fans means that your integrity shrugs its shoulders and takes a prolonged coffee break.
This just simply isn’t the case.
If anything, Bliss N Eso’s previous album ‘Flying Colours’ showed that Australian music was the prime example of Darwin’s theory in action: Bliss N Eso evolved into something greater, while other artists cycled backwards on the evolutionary scale and either dumbed themselves down or sat under a rock like a snail refusing to evolve at all.
One could also suggest that it was their previous album that laid the foundation for ‘Running on Air’; once I put the CD into my player I wasn’t expecting anything at all reminiscent of Up jumped the Boogie, Watchdog Water Dragons, or even lyrics as outwardly bizarre as “I love dogs so much, I push them in prams”.
Flying Colours laid the groundwork for a definitive sound; a tradition that Bliss N Eso has carried over into their new album.
In many ways it’s the musical collaborators that made all of this possible; in the same vein as Pete Rock and CL Smooth, Gang Starr and Naughty By Nature, having a primary producer (in this case Noam a.k.a Hatori Hanzo) makes their album sound far less homogenised as opposed to their musical rivals. There is a definitive winning formula that too many producers and musical collaborators could easily spoil, and the result is an album that doesn’t sound like any other that has been released (or will BE released) this year, or indeed the next few years.
Also, I guess I’m blessed to have seen first hand how Bliss N Eso drive their song writing process; at every step of the way they guide producers in sequencing, sampling, mixing and mastering, and as a credit to them it proves that good music is a synthesis of artist and producer. They show that the formula for a winning album is more than recording lyrics, and then simply walking away to let producers “Do their thang”.
On first listen the album was split in twain; the first few tracks “Flying through the city”, “Addicted” and the single “Down by the River” set the scene for an olden days two step jamboree, while the rear end of the album seemingly was reserved for hard hitting lyricism and reflectiveness, set to an overture of strings and guitar.
Second listen through however my attitude quickly changed, and the songs in the middle that I found myself fleetingly passing through before quickly became standouts. “Moses Twist”, “Art House Audio” and “Children of the night” are prime examples of this. Songs that initially didn’t grip me because of instruments and sequencing, suddenly took on a whole new dimension in the light of a different day.
It’s an album that suits emotion: one day you’re flying high and you love the first half, and the next day you think you’re the best rapper around, so you put your hat backwards and listen to RZA, Xzibit and (one of my favourite rappers) Jehst.
Lastly, with guests, my initial reaction was that Bliss N Eso’s style of music is so discombobulated (go on, try and beat me at scrabble) in its approach that I never entertained the possibility that RZA, Xzibit or even Jehst would mesh well with the album.
The term “I’ll be a monkey’s uncle” springs to mind (which on my father’s side of the family may actually BE a possibility – but that’s another story); while Xzibit’s verse is less than exciting, the tracks with international artists are exceptionally good, and I can guarantee that the chorus for “Smoke like fire” (feat. RZA) will be one that crowd’s chant at live shows for years to come, almost as much as Up jumped the boogie.
Not that that’s humanly possible.
The only negatives are the ‘same same but diff-a-rent’ tracks that sound like they were baked from the same mould as Woodstock 2008; Down by the River was also a strange choice for the first single, especially since “Art House Audio” or “Addicted” have the same look and feel, but generally are far better in value and quality.
My only other gripe are the songs that don’t vogue well with the rest of the album; growing up idolising Biggie, Masta Ace & Gang Starr it was difficult to get into the ‘country and western’ influenced audio. But I’m humble enough to recognise that this is simply because of the kind of music I admire; these songs are still excellent quality, they don’t detract from the overall experience in listening to the LP, and they still appeal to a whole range of fans, it’s just my personal opinion.
Upon saying that however there is little bad to be said about the album. I predict it will go on to fantastic things, and the success of flying colours will be doubled.
It gives Bliss N Eso fans what they want, it isn’t a step backwards from the forward direction that they spent many years crafting, and the big name features are handled exceptionally well.
My inner ‘fanboy’ is appeased once more.
All I need now is for Stargate to become fashionable, Tron Legacy to be released, and for Ricki Lee to return my phone calls and my life is complete.
Review by Syntax.