Raw Digits

From URB Magazine
Super_Collider's Jamie Lidell and Cristian Vogel have said that their debut collaboration, 1999's Head On, was intended to be a house album "shot through with echoes from funk past." The lead single from that album, "Darn (Cold Way O' Lovin)," certainly hit that mark with an electro-lastic bass line and sssss-hot warbling by Lidell that fell well within the P-Funk/Gap Band rubric. That being the case, Raw Digits is by all accounts some slicked-up R&B — which is damned funny when you think about the fact that Lidell's last solo album, Muddlin' Gear, was glitch-y experimental rhythm, while Vogel sports a reputation for punching techno among other things.

It's all laid out for consideration on the first track, just like Head On, and goes downhill from there; "Messagesacomin" oozes all the soul Stevie Wonder might muster thanks to Lidell's tawny, echoed vocal delivery. Harmonizing synths beam backup atmospherics and a rubber band bass around the room like nobody's business. There's certainly a nod to Timbaland wrapped up in Raw Digits as well — both these guys put technology to work with Matthew Herbert's bass piano assistance on the sexy ballad, "Gravity Rearrangin." "Bug Trackin'" and "Radianations on the Rise" are most like Head On, both consisting of scratchy, dense sound textures playing off one another as cambering bass and melody parts sprawl across the stereo image like a cat in an afternoon sunbeam. But you can't escape Lidell's vocals on Raw Digits, and that together with the R&B touches makes it a solid step forward from Head On.

Heath K. Hignight

Tracks:

Messagesacomin
Closetails
Bug Trackin
Gravity Rearrangin
Soily Soul
Spillin Visions
In The Beams
Radianations On The Rise
Collide N Conquer

Customer Reviews:

Real coolness.......2004-06-17

If only those unmusical fakers on MTV boasting 'hip' mobiles and boorish attitudes had the slightest idea of coolness! The lack of reviews for this album couldn't be more misleading! This is uber-cool mercurial futurefunk (and future-r'n'b) which feels like an extension of the Miles Davis - Herbie Hancock - Funkadelic - Stevie Wonder - George Clinton axis. Curiously enough, it's made by two white guys from Europe. The hypnotic Kraftwerk tradition is in there, too, and the Autechre schtick of making magic out of data chaos and extreme sound processing as well. But don't worry, it's all so enjoyable! The myriad of weird hums, whirrs and clicks from Cristian Vogel's electronic gadgets coalesce into a bed of silky-shadowy mutant sexiness, on top of which Jamie Liddell's voice makes voluptuous acrobatics. Not only the individual tracks, but also the musical arc of the whole album is masterful. This is the kind of rare record that never tires me, no matter how many times I hear it. Two others from similar musical universes, simultaneously weird and enjoyable: Autechre - Draft 7.30, Phoenecia - Brownout.

BRILLIANT.......2003-01-01

This is the freshest, dopest, baddest, freshest, freaky-deakiest (if you will) album that's crossed my path a long time.

The beats are mad funky... multi-layered and held together with serious bottom end synth bass. A melange of sounds perfect for a late-night slow freak on the dance floor, or a session slouched out on the couch nodding in time.

Full of ambience and texture above, below, and swirling amid the grooves, "Raw Digits" is completely engaging. If at all possible, listen on a high-end stereo capable of reproducing the whole dynamic spectrum. The album will come to life!

It certainly did for me, as "Close Tails" and "Gravity Rearranging" got play after play. I could not keep still, so it being New Year's eve and all, I danced. Can you imagine?

Buy extras to hand out to all your homies. They will worship at your feet!

Album Review: