Pete RockNY's FinestCarolineFeb. 26, 2008
It was sometime in middle school that Pete Rock (along with Large Professor and DJ Premier) made an indelible stamp on my musical taste. Something about the mythology surrounding Pete Rock: his record collection that reportedly exceeded 100,000 records, his supernatural taste in music, and his ability to cull literally the dustiest breaks my 13-year-old ears had ever heard, laid the groundwork for what would be one of my greatest musical fantasies. Hearing "T.R.O.Y." for the first time set me off on a path, not just through the world of hip-hop, rap, soul and jazz, but through what has been now years of genuine audiophilia.
DJ Shadow once said he could listen to Pete Rock forever, because unlike most hip-hop producers who get caught on one trail of the boom bap (the hard drum beat in hip-hop music), Pete could take a three-second drum solo and re-work it for four minutes. RJD2, the acclaimed maker of sample collages that sound like fantasy bands, remarked on the poetic style of guys like Premier and Pete Rock since they could convey in four seconds what RJ could in four minutes. To be sure, if it weren't for Pete Rock, the haloed funk diggers of the Bonnaroo generation would be at a loss for what to sample.
Now that you've read my confession of adoration for Pete Rock, I will say that I am a firm believer that his moment in time existed nearly 10 years ago. The last album I heard the great producer do was Petestrumentals, his solo instrumental outing for the British BBE Label. I'll admit: The album bored me for the most part. I could hear elements that made me tense up like the old days, but something seemed a bit time-warped. The problem with the great trinity of '90s New York hip-hop producers, who literally hand crafted the sound of the modern boom bap, is that it just does not age well in today's world of cinematic synths and hi-hats.
New York's Finest does not deviate from the Petestrumentals all that much. Or any of his previous catalogue, for that matter. In fact, it falls victim to the problem of remaining static to my ears. Pete's still chopping piano and wah funk (a guitar effect) samples. His beats still sputter and bang and retain the same analog quality of earlier works. I am sure I would appreciate this more if I were just getting into Pete Rock, but the fact is, as I have confessed before, I am very used to his oeuvre and as a result, am nostalgic for earlier released like InI and Mecca and the Soul Brother. Perhaps another downfall to this album is the MCing. With the exception of "Ready Fe War" which features Chip Fu and Renee Neufville, "Bring Y'all Back" with Little Brother and "The PJs" with Raekwon and Masta Killa, the songs contain no-name New York rappers that I couldn't find less interesting.
That being said, if you are a fan of hip hop I am sure you will like or love this recording, and when I say hip hop, I am referring to the real stuff, coming from the age of Breaking Atoms, Illmatic and all the other classics that fit in the scene surrounding Rock, DJ Premier, DITC and Large Professor. In reflecting on whether this is a good introduction to Pete Rock, I have decided yes, potentially. If you find that this is an album you jam, dig up Mecca and the Soul Brother, from when it was Pete Rock and CL Smooth or the collector grail, InI. From there, you might be introduced to not only a lifetime of great music but also a vision of beat making that shook the world.
-Ravi Binning
Adam GreenSixes and SevensRough Trade UsMarch 18, 2008
With notoriety fueled by her Juno soundtrack, Kimya Dawson has - somewhat unwillingly, it seems - become quite famous. Though it might seem fair to cast Simon vs. Garfunkel aspersions toward her former Moldy Peaches bandmate Adam Green, a listen to his newest, Sixes and Sevens, finds the songwriter in fine form (although Dawson does make a cameo). Green sheds some of the more twee aspects of the Peaches' dainty acoustic ballads for a firmer sound, anchored by his low register singing - a cheerier Leonard Cohen would be the easiest comparison - and some well-placed and sassy backup singers.
The songs are, on the whole, quick and not particularly deep, but they are sunny, with moments that recall Bob Weir's absurdity and Violent Femmes' lyricism - altogether nonthreatening but never staid. Green has a deft touch for quirkiness and sprinkles it throughout his tracks, from the staccato backbeat of "That Sounds Like A Pony" to the Andean pipes that drift through "You Get So Lucky." At times he flirts with a wheezy, worn-out roots rock sound, only to ditch it for a horn section or laidback guitar on the next, variations that keep the tracks moving at a sedate clip. The strongest of the bunch - the opening "Festival Song" and the melancholy "It's a Fine" among them - alternate between stripped-down melodies and barroom rock, a style Green, perhaps surprisingly, makes all his own with punchy lyrics and rolling delivery.
Though it sometimes feels as though the unseen hand of the producer has stepped in to add an appealing backup chorus or some reverb, particularly on the cabaret-styled "Sticky Ricki," Green sticks to his guns and avoids studio wizardry that would leave his music cold and canned.
In fact, its the warmth of most of these tracks - the same heartfelt stylings that made the Moldy Peaches appealing - that elevates his music. For this fact among many, Sixes and Sevens, if not a particularly challenging album, certainly qualifies as a dependable one.
It's a testament to Green's low-key songwriting - which, like Dawson, never seems produced, crafted or intended for mass success - that Sixes and Sevens never trades what it does well for a chance to climb the charts. Though the album will likely not gain him the recognition that his 2003 single "Jessica" brought him - largely thanks to its titular subject, Jessica Simpson - Green truly doesn't seem to mind. If he had, Sixes and Sevens would likely be a much different album, with its personality neutered and its whimsy sedated. For now, Green seems to still have personality very much intact.
Green is about to launch a European tour in support of the album, beginning with the United Kingdom. His stateside following is growing, in light of a 2007 cover of "Teddy Boys" by Texan Kelly Willis. With luck, Sixes and Sevens may produce a new crop of infinitely cover-able tunes.
-Matt Hansen
