•
Rating:
In recent months, I've often read about Jamie Lidell. I searched in vain for his debut album. A stroke of luck in Amsterdam allowed me to buy "Multiply," his second and latest effort.
A glam and shimmering psychedelic cover with Jamie's face as an over-the-top supersexsymbol, blending with the colors, encases a CD of extraordinary technological funky-soul. Stop.
This album is released by Warp (among many, Aphex Twin and Antipop Consortium) and is perhaps the most accessible thing in the entire catalog.
Jamie Lidell is completely out there; before recording this album, he used to perform concerts all by himself: he’d record himself as a human beatbox, loop it, and then sing over it. And he has an incredible voice, truly too black!
"Multiply" is the soul, the funk, the blues of 2000 reborn from the ashes of everything that came before. Razhel, Sly Stone, Prince, Marvin Gaye, Jamiroquai, Reverend Brown, and even the Red Hot Chili Peppers all blended together with a good dose of electronic sauce. But it's either the voice or how it's all dressed, that this album opens fascinating doors, makes you shake your ass, entertains an attentive mind, and opens new gates for the future of black far from the mainstream nu-soul.
"You Got Me Up" starts as sexy and loose-limbed as Sly. "Multiply," beneath its vintage suit, has a beautiful text of lysergic modernity ("I’m so tired of repeating myself beating myself up wanna take the trip and multiply
"). "When I Come Back Around" is a glitch-salsa collaboration between Prince and the Godfather Of Noyze. In "A Little Bit More," a vocal loop as dark as the last Mos Def provides the base for a sprightly interpretation worthy of an effeminate James Brown. The contagious "What’s The Use" is jazzed-up while "Newme" is a super funky jam session between the late '80s Red Hot Chili Peppers and a producer out of his mind on amphetamines.
"The City" is the smartest single in recent years: a blues soul with a paranoid percussionist and vocal disturbances that seem to come from all directions.
Heresy, but it seems like a Tom Waits aural artist from the future.
This album is extraordinary, period. It may not have the commercial space it deserves but has the potential to become a beacon for the black music to come.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
02 Multiply (04:26)
well sure it never used to be
so hard
this hard
used to get those kicks for free
but now I’m toeing the line
this ain’t no way to be
stuck between my shadow and me
put it where the sun don’t shine
although I'll tell you that I’m doing fine
I'm so tired of repeatin' myself
beatin' myself up
gonna take a trip and multiply
wanna 'least go under with a smile
I'm so tired of repeatin' myself
beatin' myself up
gonna take a trip and multiply
wanna 'least go under with a smile
sure never used to be
in trouble
so much trouble
love is just a shackle I see
goin’ out of my mind
this ain’t no way to be
stuck between my shadow and me
the sun´s going down
it’s getting dark in here
still folks see
I got nothing to fear
I'm so tired of repeatin' myself
beatin' myself up
gonna take a trip and multiply
wanna 'least go under with a smile
I'm so tired of repeatin' myself
beatin’ myself up
gonna take a trip and multiply
wanna 'least go under with a smile
people on the street
there are many many
people on the moon
there ain’t any any
shame... yeah ...ooh
runnin' down the same old cold
takin' it down ’cause I got no control
I’m so tired…
soooooo
I’m so tired of repeatin' myself
beatin' myself up
wanna take a trip and multiply
wanna 'least go under with a smile
I’m so tired of repeatin' myself
beatin' myself up
wanna take a trip and multiply
wanna 'least go under with a smile
08 The City (05:07)
The city it don't like you
No never did
Never did
Won't stop
Won't stop
Till it got you on your knees
Give you a stack of beggar memories
Sends you on your way
Yeah
Get out
Get out
Of your boxes
Running running running with the gases
The city like you know
Don't want you around
Discovering suspicion at the bus stop
You're not one of our kind
You're not our kind
Said you're not our kind
The city it don't like you
No never did
Never did
Won't stop
Won't stop
Till it got you on your knees
Give you a stack of beggar memories
Sends you on your way
Running with the flocks
To get by
10 Game for Fools (04:13)
the first moment you hesitate
better ask yourself why
don't you wait until it's too late
until something inside has died
when you're paralyzed
no direction at all
found yourself way up high
now there's only space to fall
when you're losing
even when you know the rules
must be a game for fools
cuz the first moment you hesitate
better ask yourself why
don't you wait until it's too late
and something inside has died
yeah it's easy down the line
to make a map of your lies
but you can't keep on
keepin' on keepin' the truth
well disguised
acting like it was alright
when it was all wrong
and you feel you've wasted so much time
forever trying to make up your mind
now it's clear you shoulda just moved on
simply packed your bags and gone
cuz the first moment you hesitate
you can kiss those plans goodbye
don't you wait until it's too late
or something inside might die
if you're losing
when you know
yeah you know all the rules
must be playing a game for fools
congratulations
yeah you're winning the game
for fools
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