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Various Artists, "Shockout vol. 1"
Is mashed up ragga jungle the next pop music? It should be.
Shockout
The first essential compilation of the year for me has come in the form of a Shockout Records retrospective that collects tracks previously released only vinyl. It couldn't have come too soon because tracking down the 12" and 7" records these songs are from has been alternatingly frustrating or impossible. That the brand of mash up ragga jungle breaks that Shockout deals in is not more widely accepted is a crime. This, to me, is what pop music ought to sound like in 2004. I'm not deluded: I don't expect the Bug and Wayne Lonesome to achieve Britney or U2 status, but there's no good reason this stuff hasn't broken out of its fringe niche market. When I think about the perfect pop song, there is a pretty standard formula that weighs down on just about every pop song ever hummed in a car or slapped on a mix tape. It has to be short; GYBE is great, but it's beyond the attention span of the pop audience. It has to have a catchy rhythm or melody, and by nature of the ragga/dub/jungle fusion, all of these tracks have that. It also needs a vocal hook, because no matter what the cutsey, instrumental electro-pop discs that fly over from Germany like to think, a pop song is anchored by the vocal. While I can't understand half of what the MCs are saying on these tracks, they are nevertheless some of the best hooks anyone has put to music in the last few years. I don't know how many times I've walked out of the elevator in my building singing "Killer" or "WWW" to myself. By bringing together the raw grit of hardcore hip hop, an experimental studio approach to production, the rhythms and mashed up collages of jungle and breakbeat music, and the soul of ragga and dancehall the Shockout artists are essentially creating the recipie for the perfect multi-cultural distopian pop of our generation. That this stuff gets resigned to relative obscurity and special-order status means that it's not likely that the sound or the scene will evolve as quickly as it should. When mainstream artists are producing some of the sickest and slickest beats and taking more risks than their underground counterparts, it opens up a whole new world of innovation and experimentation that inevitably leads to something even fresher and weirder. The artists on the Shockout roster should be approaching that kind of uncomfortable intermediate area where what they are doing is recognized enough to lead some of them into the neverland of major labels, but instead the whole thing is promoted with the zeal for the underground that limits its audience unnecessarily. It's a dedication that I admire on the one hand, but simply don't understand on the other. Surely there's a way to keep the artistic integrity in tact while getting discs like this into the hands of the millions of people who would no doubt love them if they knew Shockout existed. Look for the bandwagon to be rolling in 2005, and for Shockout to continue to lead the way.
The first essential compilation of the year for me has come in the form of a Shockout Records retrospective that collects tracks previously released only vinyl. It couldn't have come too soon because tracking down the 12" and 7" records these songs are from has been alternatingly frustrating or impossible. That the brand of mash up ragga jungle breaks that Shockout deals in is not more widely accepted is a crime. This, to me, is what pop music ought to sound like in 2004. I'm not deluded: I don't expect the Bug and Wayne Lonesome to achieve Britney or U2 status, but there's no good reason this stuff hasn't broken out of its fringe niche market. When I think about the perfect pop song, there is a pretty standard formula that weighs down on just about every pop song ever hummed in a car or slapped on a mix tape. It has to be short; GYBE is great, but it's beyond the attention span of the pop audience. It has to have a catchy rhythm or melody, and by nature of the ragga/dub/jungle fusion, all of these tracks have that. It also needs a vocal hook, because no matter what the cutsey, instrumental electro-pop discs that fly over from Germany like to think, a pop song is anchored by the vocal. While I can't understand half of what the MCs are saying on these tracks, they are nevertheless some of the best hooks anyone has put to music in the last few years. I don't know how many times I've walked out of the elevator in my building singing "Killer" or "WWW" to myself. By bringing together the raw grit of hardcore hip hop, an experimental studio approach to production, the rhythms and mashed up collages of jungle and breakbeat music, and the soul of ragga and dancehall the Shockout artists are essentially creating the recipie for the perfect multi-cultural distopian pop of our generation. That this stuff gets resigned to relative obscurity and special-order status means that it's not likely that the sound or the scene will evolve as quickly as it should. When mainstream artists are producing some of the sickest and slickest beats and taking more risks than their underground counterparts, it opens up a whole new world of innovation and experimentation that inevitably leads to something even fresher and weirder. The artists on the Shockout roster should be approaching that kind of uncomfortable intermediate area where what they are doing is recognized enough to lead some of them into the neverland of major labels, but instead the whole thing is promoted with the zeal for the underground that limits its audience unnecessarily. It's a dedication that I admire on the one hand, but simply don't understand on the other. Surely there's a way to keep the artistic integrity in tact while getting discs like this into the hands of the millions of people who would no doubt love them if they knew Shockout existed. Look for the bandwagon to be rolling in 2005, and for Shockout to continue to lead the way. samples:
- Soundmurderer & SK-1/Wayne Lonesome - Who Wan Seek War (Rewind Mix)
- The Bug vs. Rootsman/Mexican - WWW (Kid 606 Remix)
- Rootsman/He-Man - Killer
