Rating:
Genre:
Electronica
Release Date: 06/22/2004
Formerly of both
Global Communication and
the Jedi Knights, the U.K.'s
Mark Pritchard (nee
Meecham) has decided to go it alone with
Troubleman.
Troubleman is a song-oriented studio project that features a number of live musicians including vocalists. The music runs the gamut. First there are the
jazzy breakbeats on
"Have a Good Time," which opens the set, followed by the sultry, spacey, sci-fi
samba "Paz," featuring
Da Lata's Brazilian songstress
Nina Miranda on vocals. Next up is
"Prelude to the Path," where U.K
soul queen
Eska introduces a slow, slippery double groove with layered vibes and snaky, shimmering snares. It's all hypnotism and nocturne.
Samba returns on
"The Righteous Path" with
David Brinkworth's vibes,
Alex Pilkington and
Simon Shippey on acoustic guitars, and
Chris Taylor's stunning double bass work layered with sampled flutes and berimbau and a haunting vocal chorus flitting about the track's middle section. The breaks come back on
"Lonely Girl," popping up around an airy chord structure with live double bass. The two hippest cuts are in the middle, the beautifully wrought modern
electro-jazz bossa of
"Toda Hora," with
Miranda slipping around the multivalent layers of rhythm, and the edgy futurist
soul of
"Roll On," with
Eska upfront and
Pino Palladino on bass!
Steve Spacek does his best late-night
Philip Bailey on
"Without You," and the set closes with
"Zap," another
Miranda moment where ten vocals and keyboard lines are all backwards, lending a disconcerting, eerie feel as the album whispers out of earshot. It's not a perfect disc by far with the title track and the completely unnecessary
Afro-beat hyperdrive of
"Strikehard" sounding like mutants in this otherwise sexy mix, but there is more than enough to keep one's interest here, and find delight in places.
~Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
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