Released in July 2011, Ghostfunk pairs one of my favorite hip-hop artists, Wu-Tang member Ghostface Killah, with vintage African funk, high-life, and psychedelic rock music.
Review
Max Tannone Projects) I'm not going to lie to you. Lying never accomplishes anything. Team Buzzine was struggling this week. We couldn't seem to find anything to write up for this week's column. I'm not saying there was nothing decent sliding across the desks; there just wasn't a clear winner. There was nothing really exciting...at least nothing really exciting to me at the end of a long and exceptionally difficult week. I had pretty much resigned myself to penning a late-night, semi-apologetic, admittedly uninspired and particularly short review of one of the many decent but not mind-blowing tapes that I listened to today. With nothing tugging at me, I headed out to get a surf and to stop contemplating the sensibility of writing a weekly recommendation. Around 9:30 tonight, I got out of the water at 3rd point in Malibu, and took the long walk through the lagoon back out to PCH. I got to the car, loaded up the surfboards, put on some pants and checked my phone. And there, illuminated by the fattest full moon of the year, was the most magical email I've gotten in recent memory.
Our esteemed music editor, Mr. Shaw (Shawdizzle, Shawmageddon,
ChainShaw, or any other of a slew of hip hop names) is not one to
exaggerate, and he doesn't mess around when describing the quality of
the music he's listening to. So when I read the rave review he was
giving to the newly released Max Tannone mash-up record I was
bewildered. I don't think I've ever read a more enthusiastic
recommendation for review. Now, if you read the Jaydiohead review
that was printed in this same column many months ago, then you know
that we are all huge fans of that project and we really dig all of Max's
work. Despite his admiration, Mr. Shaw's description of Max's newest
mash-up (forget mash-up -- I'm coining a new phrase: SMASHup) describes
it as better than Jaydiohead. He defines it as destroying Jaydiohead.
He thinks it's legendary -- as the capo di tutti of smashups.
And he was right.
The new record is a ten-track offering entitled Ghostfunk,
which combines vocals (and some production elements) from Ghostface
Killah, with early to mid-'70s African soul, funk, and psych
numbers. And it is perfect.
I'm not even gonna front like I'm familiar with any of the music that
Max merged with Ghost's voice on this album. My knowledge of African
music is limited to a couple semesters of African Music at NYU and
regular reading of "Awesome Tapes From Africa." And that makes this
smash all the better. Every track on this tape is new to me. And
relatively, I'd guess that every track on this album is new to Max
Tannone. This isn't stuff we heard on the radio as kids. It isn't stuff
we passed around or recognize from samples. This record had to require a
good deal of listening and inspiration, research and intuition, grind
and contemplation. Luckily for me, this album is accompanied by a PDF
which credits all of the samples, so at least I can write about it from a
more than theoretical standpoint.
If you know me, you know that I am a Ghostface Killah fan. And if you
read my work, I'm sure all three of you know that I loved Apollo Kids. And
one of the reasons that I dug it more than any Ghost album in recent
memory was because it combined Tony's trademark lyricism and
storytelling with tracks that were a little more diverse than usual. The
album was still very '70s, but it wasn't just built on standard soul
tracks -- it delved into spaghetti westerns and Star Wars. It
was fresh. And if Apollo Kids was fresh with the samples, then Ghostfunk
is fresher than fresh. It's raw. This really is a brilliant concept for
a Ghostface smashup record. And it's exciting. When I heard the opening
horns in "Make It N.Y.," I expected Johnny Pate...but then I heard the
heavy one-drop organ hits and realized I had no idea what was about to
happen. The music is sick. And the production leaves space for the the
music, which is a quality that, with the exception of The Roots, is
sorely missing in mainstream hip hop. Oh, and there's some turntableism
on this one. Word.
Starks, if you're reading this, GET AT MAX TANNONE! Dude should be
producing your next album. And if you're really, really reading this,
can you please get at me with the stem tracks for "Laced Cheeba"? I
need those. For real. I have the best live instrument remix ready for
that joint! And Max Tannone, if you're reading this...you're killin'
me, dogg. You know I can't afford all the records I have to buy now that I'm obsessed with '70s African soul.
As far as the Ghostface half of this marriage, it's...well...it's
Ghost. Dude's never phoned-in a verse in his life. Of course it's
impeccable. More importantly, the verses are extremely well-selected and
are pulled from nearly every album in the Ghostface catalog (along with
some Raekwon and AZ joints). Max digs as deep as "Ironman" to pair
vocals from "Daytona 500" with "Danger" -- a track that features a psych
blues guitar that would make Jimi proud. What's better is that it fits
so well. It sounds as though a session player laid it down to accent
Ghost's bars.
Max uses another track from the same album as "Danger" entitled "Lord Have Mercy" to accompany Ghost's "Three Bricks" from the Fishscale
album. If you're a hip hop fan, you know about this track. "Three
Bricks" is Ghostface Killah's response/tribute to expansion upon
Biggie's "Niggas Bleed." "Niggas Bleed" is perhaps the best story ever
told in the history of hip hop. It's essentially a Tarantino film in
three minutes. And Ghostface, as hip hop's finest living storyteller,
put together "Three Bricks" after Biggie died as the greatest form of
audio dap anyone had ever heard. For those of you who have no idea what
any of this means, think of a "Space Oddity"/"Major Tom (Earth Below
Us)" dynamic. The original track was somber, but this version is a
eulogy.
Really, everything fits on this smashup. I listened to it a few times
while burning through this review, and it's hard to choose a
standout. At the moment, I'm spinning "The Same Girl," which combines
Ghost's "Never Be The Same Again" with "Little Girl." This one is great
because it combines a classic Ghost story with a super dry funk guitar,
and then layers Carl Thomas' smooth R&B vocals from the original
version with the dub vocal chorus from "Little Girl." This may be my
favorite track on the record, or it may just be the track I'm listening
to right now. Ain't that about a man for you?buzzinemusic.com
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