April 1999

listen hear

The Rob Lo fidelity experience...

super (collider) stupid fake funk sensation & serious talent

super collider

Ladies an' gennlemen...let's hear it for the hardest workin' men in show business and the super heavy brand new ministers of Fake Funk...SUPER COLLIDER! Play that funky music, white boys! Play 'Take Me Home', their second release for the Loaded label, and marvel at the audacity o' these dudes...Jamie Lidell, whose freestylin' vocals first mimmic Bootsy himself (from his prime time early solo style), before working himself up into a fake frenzy of testifyin' righteousness which mixes JB 'good god!''s with a style that echoes (knowingly or not) the style of that No Wave White Punk on Funk exponent of old, James White...modern dancers will be contorting themselves like crazy if they try shaking a leg to the exaggerated 'slapped' bass of this tune. And the beat is just the thud of a drum, so this is a kind of middle finger in the face of current Dance music...

There's a 'chorus', of sorts, in the form of 'na, na, na' which takes it's cue from Sly Stone's 'Stand' (and not, as a DJ Mag reviewer suggested, 'Hey Jude' - so there). And on the flip, there's a techno-funk instrumental which is rather good, followed by a remix from another exponent of late-century Fake Funk for digital dancers, Buckfunk 3000. This record's super stupid.

In a strange, parallel promo release situation, marked as 'Super 3', comes another SC 12", 'It Won't Be Long'. On this, the duo return to the more serious form of their debut. The tune is ultra-slow, taking the torch lit by the likes of Massive Attack and Tricky, and carrying it into another dimension. Lidell's partner, Christian Vogel, provides the technological input (I think that's how it works; Lidell being the Funk fanatic, Vogel, the scientist) with a bass noise sounding like a snarling beast that's just consumed the soft flesh of soppy Dance before proceeding to slither around what amount to the barest bones of a beat. The first play experience is sensational, provoking that rarest of listening responses: "What the fuck is this??!!". Lidell goes back to his original blue-eyed-soul-boy vocal style, but it's that bass which really hits the spot. So what? So this is the best single of the year, already. The remix by Neil Landstrumm is a bonus. The one by Midfield General is not.

© Rob Lo March '99

clubbing: Club@vision


www.tangents.co.uk

editor@tangents.co.uk