Friday 15 October 2010

The Voodoo Review: "The Dance" New Album by FAITHLESS



…And I said to him, “Wow, that’s the cheapest M.O.T. my car’s ever had!” Just goes to show, it pays to clean the trunk out first - although I stopped short of vacuuming because that would look just a bit too suspicious.

Anyway, enough about me. I’ve had a few surprised reactions from everyday folks who think MySpace went to sleep in 2007, but as you might have figured out if you’ve read this far now, it’s far from dreaming.

Puts me in mind of possibly the biggest trance anthem of all time - “Insomnia” by Faithless.

What was just one of the networking community sites back in the early days is now the hotspot for the world’s musical talent, where the newcomer sits parallel to the major player, can be friends with it, listen to its music, get information on touring, and watch new videos - as well as enter site-organised competitions.

So here’s a review which should put those surprised reactions to one side.

Faithless, the super-group combo of Maxi Jazz, Sister Bliss and Rollo, have been online since 2006. Currently on a world tour and with a new album “The Dance” in the charts (available from all outlets, my outlet of choice being the official supermarket, as I also felt the need for noodle fuel), their page is active with tour dates, videos, music, and blog updates. Currently on their page you can order the U.K. arena tour tickets, listen to Tweak YN Tiesto Remix; Not Going Home; Feel Me; Crazy Bal’Heads; Comin Around; Tweak Your Nipple; Flyin Hi; Love Is My Condition; Feelin Good; North Star; Sun To Me; The Dance Mini-Mix; Sister Bliss Mash-Up; Not Going Home (Original Mix); Sun To Me - Original (October Edit); Insomnia; Sun To Me - Jerome Isma-Ae Remix; Music Matters; spiderscrocodiles and (…and I am SO reviewing that one!!); Sun To Me - Alex M.O.R.P.H. Remix; A Kind Of Peace Slow; and watch videos for Feelin Good; Tweak Your Nipple, and Not Going Home Erotic Version.

That’s a lot of cake, as some people I know would say.

And if Faithless are here, then it’s the place to be.

Unfortunately the gang have had to cancel some of the shows scheduled for this weekend, but with a run ahead of them well into 2011, let’s wish them all the best - they’ll be back…

Here’s what their new album (and Thai noodles) do to my noodle… I mean brain…

FAITHLESS, London, U.K.
Dance/Trip-Hop/Trance
World Tour & New Album: THE DANCE

TRACKLIST:

Not Going Home
The opening hits the ground running all right. And Maxi’s at the wheel taking control. “I watch the rhythm slide right up your dress…” - the best new line since the one about the tights…

You know the feeling when there’s no escape and the daylight is still a long way off - make sure the guy you get in that taxi with is one you can trust… he’s not leaving unless it’s with you.

…You know when a guy’s had his fill of unrequited love. Tonight’s the night.

Feel Me feat. Blancmange
“Feel Me Now, Feel The Pain… Or Take The Blame.” A popping track with a great vocal from Neil Arthur. Redemption for unrequited love long overdue… or love turned sour…

Time for some quick thinking. He’s already reached his conclusion about the outcome. Pick a window, any window - just not one too many floors up. And make sure you can run in those shoes. No, not the Manolos, silly girl - put your Nikes on…

Crazy Bal’Heads feat. Jonny ‘Itch’ Fox
…No running here, it’s a nonchalant walk through reggae streets - if you know what’s good for you. Because running around wildly like a headless chicken just looks suspect.

Time to chill - wait for the right moment before running those crazies out of town.

Comin Around feat Dougy Mandagi
Almost an a’cappella intro with angelic vocal backing before the beats join in.

Now here’s a guy who knows the game-play: “Mirrors… Smoke And Mirrors…” But it’s about understanding himself first. He’s taking a look inside himself before reacting - “I’m Comin Around” - to a new way of thinking…

That’s a man to stick around for and watch the metamorphosis as it happens.

Tweak Your Nipple
A pacey beats intro works up a little sweat before getting the groove on… Maxi’s poetry leads this track “Drop Your Pebble In The Mainstream…” My thoughts exactly…

A big trance anthem floor-filler sound joins in the sentiment. A hymn to individuality, to awaken the genius in everyone who hears the word…

…All thoughts of love entanglements and complicated relationships forgotten. See the light of your soul in the darkness through someone else’s eyes…

Did I say the word anthem already? Oh good. Just making a point of reminding myself, then.

Flyin Hi
A gentle opening here to wake you from a perfect inter-galactic cyber-sleep gradually. And then the daily information overload begins, trickling in the news, the weather reports, the shopping, the money worries, the commuting…

…The commuting. The meditation. The escape into a bubble of passive motion - “I’ll Never Stop Trying… I’m Flying…” The daily affirmations.

The resurrection of the self from the “Essential Inner Drama.”

And still the determination to never stop trying… “For You…”

Love Is My Condition feat. Mia Maestro
…Leads seamlessly in from “Flyin Hi” with Mia’s effortless vocal moving the angelic melody along, only pausing to mourn the severity of the Condition - “Pills Won’t Help It…”

It’s not just the guys suffering from that unrequited love thing… sometimes even money and sympathy don’t work, as you enter the darkness of that isolation of emotion within yourself…

Feelin Good feat. Dido
Another seamless blend into a dance track that just needs an espresso and a J2O to jump-start you after all that introspection “This Is Waking Up And Feelin Good…”

A feeling not relying on anyone else’s input - just your own motivation to get up and dance - let the co-dependency connections go and see “The View From The Top Of The Hill.”

You might be surprised at what you see from that vantage point…

North Star feat. Dido
An after-dark tune to take you off the beach and out of the bar, back to where you belong…

Gone are thoughts of emotional blackmail, running away and co-dependency… “It’s Been A Long Time Coming… But It’s Well Worth Waiting…” Something different and reassuring emerges out of the darkness, the Star to guide you home.

A converging journey of two prodigal minds returning home - to one another.

Sun To Me
Back to the bass… a dance for the poet confronted with a muse who breaks the time barrier and becomes more than a passing moment - becomes the future, the eternity - “The Sun To Me.”

How can a chance meeting flood the mind in all conceivable dimensions? There is no ‘before’, only the ‘always’ that this one has had meaning in…

And yet the urgency and fervency are still there, as if the Sun might suddenly go dark - until then, there’s always the future, in which we “Fit Together Perfectly.”

Scandalous (bonus track)
The eccentric trippin’ intro complete with bongo beats is the perfect feed-line for this prose-artistry, a man in his worst mind over her, the conflict of mind and emotion and situation, taking him around in vicious circles - but like a rollercoaster, a ride he can’t get off… doesn’t want to…

Not even other women offering “A Pathway From Affliction” can break this delicious addiction…

And finally, from the Faithless on MySpace page because it contains spiders…

spiderscrocodiles and (online)
Oh boy, Raffertie would love this spider if it crawled out of his boot…

A quirky and addictive tune that plays in your head between waking from a nightmare and the next moment you fall asleep, waiting in a cold sweat for the instant you realise you’re dreaming…

The creepy Addams Family-manga intro “chocolate and broccoli, sand and dirt and squashing snails…” launches into a groove like you’ve never heard before, with a New Wave-style melody vocal - “spider-man” - think Siouxsie And The Banshees, Terry Hall of Fun Boy Three, or The Cure’s Robert Smith - before Maxi’s iconic rap poetry. A post-modern reference to “Insomnia” and baby-banter on the mic at the end wrap things up in a way that proves these guys are keeping it all real.

And THEN you wake up…

L xxxxxxx

(Image courtesy of PDPhoto.org)


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