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I can’t say enough about Creative Vibes and French label Wagram. The former for having the good sense and business balls to import the more obscure electro foreign releases and let them loose on these shores, the latter for signing these acts in the first place. Another of their impressive stable has been getting a fair old hitout in my CD player for some weeks and I thought I’d share it with you now.
Jack de Marseille may be a name that’s a little unfamiliar to most of us, but this guy is the business overseas. His debut album showcases just what a flexible lad he is, mixing up a very French and often pleasing platter of deep progressive house, a little electro, some tasty young breakbeat and yes, even the odd snippet of techno. Variety is the name of the game and ‘beyond genre labels’ is the musical result. As the album title suggests, this man will not be bound.
Jack is about music, and dance music specifically, that crosses genre demarcation lines and shakes convention silly. His self described ‘electronic music’ is wholly and souly just that, he makes no distinction beyond this simple label. I’ll add that his sound is fairly eclectic, percussive and rhythmic, with plenty of change ups in tempo and beat throughout. Listening to this album is very much an example of one man’s musical dexterity, with that philosophy of not being tied down, rampant all the way along.
First up we get some jazz infused tech, leaning to the house tip, in ‘You Make Me Feel So Good’. Then some harder beats and a trance-like rhythm accompany ‘Jay Slap’. Just for something different, ‘Bring Back That Feeling’ is a squelchy techno track, with a firm underpinning of hard tribal sounds. And then an all out funk attack appears on the next track, ‘Psyche Le Funk’.
Vocal highs, dub rhythms, a little acid, a dash of breakbeat, some more techy house and a good helping of electro all get covered in the next 8 tracks. This album really covers every base in its attempt to be the master of all domains. But, for mine, such eclectic taste is as desirable as any artist I see who attempts to break EVERY rule. Extremely admirable and in many cases, deserving of kudos. But do you really want ALL that art splashed on your walls. One piece or two, maybe, but taking in the whole collection demands a viewer (or listener) capable of perhaps the heights of eclecticism that the artists themselves have achieved. I’m afraid I fall short of the mark.
There is much of this album that hits the spot, but to conventional ears that tend towards liking only two or maybe three musical genres in any one session, much of ‘Free My Music’ will slip by without the impact intended. Perhaps it is we that all need to catch up to Jack De Marseille’s perfect vision of boundless musical creativity, or maybe it is more a case of Jack of all trades, master of none?
Weird, but technically superior, electronic creativity. If you have the aural stamina, step up to the plate.
