Doctor-L
Monkey Dizzyness

LA RECENSIONE

"I am self-taught, but like an abstract painter who knows how to draw and chooses to create abstract works." (D-L)

With this premise, Doctor-L, a highly quoted yet elusive French DJ, a protagonist of the wild nights in the trendiest Parisian clubs, released in 2002 his second album of quirky/trip-hop with the most diverse influences. It is easier to list what isn't among the genres featured here: jazz, afro beat, funk, dub, acoustic rock, ambient, soul, hip hop, dub, and more. Monkey Dizzyness, as if that wasn't enough, winks at the cinematic world in its construction of episodes and fragments that somehow take us there.

As we were saying: a varied, fragmented, and pleasantly disjointed album that ranges from the blackest funk to soul hints in more markedly experimental down-tempo, with excellent care and sound exploration. Enchanting percussion, groovy bass lines, tough rhythms, and eclectic arrangements (prog flutes, '70s moog lines, acoustic guitars, cellos, whispered raps, vocoder voices, measured and very effective scratch effects, suburban ambient noises that contextualize everything) make this album a treat for genre lovers. Certainly, it's unlikely to be heard in Rimini's discos, considering we're dealing with a peculiar album for sophisticated ears and lovers of that sort of "black music" that roams in ever unpredictable and increasingly contaminated territories. Bring joy to this little clandestine group of stubborn genre enthusiasts, of which I am a member.