City Delirious

Amazon.com
City Delirious is a complete smorgasbord of jazz, blues, hip-hop, and techno--at least four decades of musical influences--and Chef Lionrock (Justin Robertson) has earned his tenure as a DJ. The album is seamlessly divided into two vibes--the first half is a funked-out, jazzed-out, big-beat jam, and the second half is a loungy cool-down. The jazzy second track, "Rude Boy Rock," is a representative microcosm for the rest of the album. Giddy, quirky, and sexy, it scoots along in a madcap way and would have been a shoe-in candidate for the background music to a very special episode of Gilligan's Island. (Story line: James Bond surfs into the lagoon, has a few romps with Ginger, and spends the rest of the show trying not to get caught.) Robertson hails from Manchester, England, and tips his hat to the homestead by interjecting standard Happy Mondays/Soup Dragons-style Rasta-man samples over the top of the song.

The rest of the album is jammed with everything from early-'80s "industrial-lite" to Rolling Stones blues riffs to non-threatening raps that fall somewhere between Young MC and PM Dawn to the most reptilian of after-hours lounge. Someone this inventive and musically informed could have easily thrown together a record that was overwhelming and incongruent. But City Delirious is a sensationally tasteful buffet of rhythms, instruments, and influences--delicious from the first course to the last. --Beth Bessmer

Spin
City Delirious neither spies the future nor reflects the present, but instead cherry-picks the past, perhaps hoping to forestall dance music’s built-in obsolescence.

It’s a mod, mod, mod world on the set, with Robertson, cast as coffee-house hipster Expresso Bongo, urging the kids to jive to black culture. Drawing from a palette of shuffle rhythms, cool jazz, and Northern soul, the band recreates a rude-boy rebellion, fortifying the live instrumentation with analog electronics.

City Delirious

Tracks:

Push Button Cocktail
Rude Boy Rock
Electric Hairdo
City Delirious
Best Foot Forward
Rock Steady Romance
She's On The Train
Scatter & Swing
Wet Roads Glisten
A Cellar Full Of Noise
Canal Heist
Zip Gun Rumble
It's Panoramic
Amazing New Product

Amazon.com

City Delirious is a complete smorgasbord of jazz, blues, hip-hop, and techno--at least four decades of musical influences--and Chef Lionrock (Justin Robertson) has earned his tenure as a DJ. The album is seamlessly divided into two vibes--the first half is a funked-out, jazzed-out, big-beat jam, and the second half is a loungy cool-down. The jazzy second track, "Rude Boy Rock," is a representative microcosm for the rest of the album. Giddy, quirky, and sexy, it scoots along in a madcap way and would have been a shoe-in candidate for the background music to a very special episode of Gilligan's Island. (Story line: James Bond surfs into the lagoon, has a few romps with Ginger, and spends the rest of the show trying not to get caught.) Robertson hails from Manchester, England, and tips his hat to the homestead by interjecting standard Happy Mondays/Soup Dragons-style Rasta-man samples over the top of the song.

The rest of the album is jammed with everything from early-'80s "industrial-lite" to Rolling Stones blues riffs to non-threatening raps that fall somewhere between Young MC and PM Dawn to the most reptilian of after-hours lounge. Someone this inventive and musically informed could have easily thrown together a record that was overwhelming and incongruent. But City Delirious is a sensationally tasteful buffet of rhythms, instruments, and influences--delicious from the first course to the last. --Beth Bessmer

Customer Reviews:

An Excellent Album.......2004-10-02

How can an album that uses the phrase "Just spread the magic powder in the trash" not be good?

Seriously, this album is great. I bought it not knowing what to expect; what I got was a solid album of groove. This a cd you can throw in to the player and drive all day long to. Scatter & Swing and Canal Heist are superb. She's on the Train is also a very good tune.

Excellent CD. A must buy for any house fan........1999-02-10

I highly recommend this CD. Its ecletic sound is infectious. A few tracks have lyrics which break up the CD nicely. Stand out tracks are Rude Boy Rock and Track 1. It is one of those rare complete CDs that can be listened to from beginning to end in one seamless, comfortable sitting. I highly recommend this CD.

this album is great get if you can.......1999-01-06

i just love there music get your hands on it if possible its grea

great music... buy it........1998-06-16

Justin Robertson builds on the good stuff of Instinct for Detection with a followup album that refuses to be categorized. Lots of funky tunes that owe more to bits of the past than the electronica flavour of the day... electronics, some guitars, funky beats, smooth lyrics coolly delivered, equals a great album and one that will sound good long after the current trend in dance music dies and is replaced by something else...