Search - Poets of Rhythm :: Discern / Define

Aye caramba, muy sabroso

Jack Dempsey | South Miami Beach, Florida | 10/04/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"First, shame on you for looking at this on cd. Get the vinyl.Second, as a general rule, if it's on Quanuum, snap it up. It will be amazing. (FYI, same holds true for the following other labels: Stones Throw, Compost, Ubiquity, ESL.)Third, DJ Shadow never fails. Anything he is involved in, is going to be incredible. Here too, we get the added benefit of Lyrics Born...whose work in the Quanuum Spectrum and Latyrx projects was simply too dam* good. As always, with this one, you are given a gem.Fourth, if you are at all into the roots type sound....the stuff of legends...i.e., JB's, Jimmy Smith, Grant Green, Lonnie Linston Smith, Meters, or anything...ANYTHING the SOUL FIRE label of NY is churning out, you will dig this one. This is just straight up, grooving, churning, greasy, hammond-driven wonders.Five, get this now. On vinyl. From you local mom and pop, or order it directly from Quanuum.Also, explore the others on the Quanuum label. To those in the know, I'm preaching to the choir. Others, explore....and dig, dig, dig, dig, dig....."

It's all about the groove baby!

J. Grau | nashville,tn | 05/29/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"i've had this album since after it soon came out and i still love it. because of my virtual addiction to this album, many people i know have picked it up as well. the thing i love about these guys is that it's all about 'feel", not precision or perfection. the opposite of these guys could be said to be someone like Galactic, who are great musicians, but for me, they are too clean and too much "jamming". The Poets of Rhythm ride the groove, with a little soloing on the keys here and there. The production is amazing. i got in touch with the bass player who handles the engineering side of things. they used lots of vintage equipment (tube pre-amps, compressors and mikes). he even pointed out that for the snare they used a no-name brand, radio shack mike to get that lo fi, crunchy sound. a lot of effort went into getting certain sounds for each song. have to respect that kind of dedication.
As for this album, it's versatile in the various styles of funk. little afrobeat, little Meters, and a little of everything else. as i said, with much of their stuff, they just find the pocket and ride it out. no showing off here, it's a very group-oriented band. also, they record their stuff live with the exceptions of a few overdubs here and there. And from what i can guess, they don't do many takes. There's a few minor slip ups here and there, but that's what i love about it. I mean, if you're a big JB fan of the late 60's (Get It Together, Ain't It Funky Now,etc.), then you know that a few mess ups here and there don't matter none and if anything, give it a more human sound.
I could ramble on more but i did enough. If you get this on cd but love vinyl, or try to buy nothing but vinyl, get this one on the wax. there's a an extra track, just an instrumental version of "Smilin' While You're Cryin'", but it's high quality vinyl and with the production quality, it's a nice match. Also, for anyone that loves these guys, there is a nice 45 they released last summer called "Summerdays". Nice "sunny", laid back tune..very 70's..i get most of my vinyl from www.dustygroove.com which is where i got the Poets stuff.
if you like raw, throw down, dirty, "not 8 minutes of soloing" funk, check these guys out."

Wow

melatto | MD United States | 11/19/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I really don't know how to begin to describe this CD.It's really, really funky, with quite a bit of disco influence. It's mainly an instrumental album. It's virtually immaculate.This is one of the few CDs I can honestly say, during the course of the work day, I just throw on and let ride for a few hours before switching it up. Bombay The Hard Way, Midnight Marauders, UNKLE, Reasonable Doubt, Morning View, NIA, Dr. Octagon, A Much Better Tomorrow, Blowout Comb, Do You Want More?!??!?!...and this one. That's about it.You really, really oughtta buy this. If you are reading this review, there's no reason for you to not buy this album. Like someone before me said, DJ Shadow does no wrong.You oughtta pick it up. ..."