Ming & FS – The Human Condition (2001) (CD) (FLAC + 320 kbps)
Two years ago, Ming and FS’ debut full-length, Hell’s Kitchen, scored massive props from the throngs who’d been waiting for a credible drum & bass/hip-hop fusion. Said record was the product of the Manhattan/Hell’s Kitchen duo’s longstanding hip-hop roots, jazz training and production skills that had been employed by artists ranging from Coolio to Brandy. The boys were bad-asses and knew it – they dubbed their music “junkyard” and chided self-described turntablists for piss-poor songs and bloated battle-honed egos.
It’s hard to live up to hype, and Ming and FS’ sophomore long-player, The Human Condition, doesn’t. It’s an inconsistent melange of hip-hop, drum & bass, jazz fusion and electronics that fails to attain aesthetic coherence. Genre-blending can be the province of artists possessed of transcendent musical visions, but when done poorly it recalls those naÔve ’90s collegiate indie bands whose sets wandered between cliche funk, punk, folk and psychedelic originals. While the prognosis isn’t as grim as that comparison, The Human Condition is mired in the quality-control problems that come with music that takes the buffet as its model. Half the disc is highly recommended West London-inspired jazz fusion that stokes the senses with poly-rhythms and bright hooks, but the remainder consists of confused forays into industrial-inspired electronics and surprisingly inauthentic jungle. Left alone, the fusion material would make for a stellar record, but it can’t carry the dead weight of hackneyed vocal samples (“You’re a bad girl – such a pretty little girl“) repeated ad nauseam over market-friendly funk. Sad to say it, but somebody’s out to lunch in Hell’s Kitchen.
Pete Skafish – The URB Magazine
Shalom
Intro To Life
Interlude – Etcha Scratch
Freak
Some Die (Some Come Up)
Capt. Omray’s Mumble Box
Uncle Bubble
Interlude – Like A White Girl
Simple Mathematics
Human Condition
Head Case
High Pursuit
Interlude – I Told You
Proof Positive
Momer
Is There Honey?
Two years ago, Ming and FS’ debut full-length, Hell’s Kitchen, scored massive props from the throngs who’d been waiting for a credible drum & bass/hip-hop fusion. Said record was the product of the Manhattan/Hell’s Kitchen duo’s longstanding hip-hop roots, jazz training and production skills that had been employed by artists ranging from Coolio to Brandy. The boys were bad-asses and knew it – they dubbed their music “junkyard” and chided self-described turntablists for piss-poor songs and bloated battle-honed egos.
It’s hard to live up to hype, and Ming and FS’ sophomore long-player, The Human Condition, doesn’t. It’s an inconsistent melange of hip-hop, drum & bass, jazz fusion and electronics that fails to attain aesthetic coherence. Genre-blending can be the province of artists possessed of transcendent musical visions, but when done poorly it recalls those naÔve ’90s collegiate indie bands whose sets wandered between cliche funk, punk, folk and psychedelic originals. While the prognosis isn’t as grim as that comparison, The Human Condition is mired in the quality-control problems that come with music that takes the buffet as its model. Half the disc is highly recommended West London-inspired jazz fusion that stokes the senses with poly-rhythms and bright hooks, but the remainder consists of confused forays into industrial-inspired electronics and surprisingly inauthentic jungle. Left alone, the fusion material would make for a stellar record, but it can’t carry the dead weight of hackneyed vocal samples (“You’re a bad girl – such a pretty little girl“) repeated ad nauseam over market-friendly funk. Sad to say it, but somebody’s out to lunch in Hell’s Kitchen.
Pete Skafish — From URB Magazine
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