Customer Reviews

Got It Made

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Jon Spencer's sister Muffin (apparently her real name) rocks the house with this album. It's a cool hip-hop/techno/punk hybrid sound. Fans of Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Boss Hog, Cibo Matto, Beck will not be dissapointed. Muffin's got a cool voice and there's crazy turntable action. I recommend this album because it rawks.

This is a great album. Dancable and Catchy. To compare them to elastica is a joke. Elastica is a punk band. Brassy are great buy the album already.

Muffin Spencer, sister of Jon, does to hip-hop what her brother does to blues: recasts it as a modern minstrelsy. Her band, Brassy, does their strange prestidigitation better than J.S.'s Blues Explosion, partially because her love of hip-hop doesn't have the stench of appropriation clinging to it - this is music that speaks directly to her in a way that blues merely suggests to him. Brassy's music also mimics the tensile rhythms of Elastica, and the funk underpinnings of, say, Red Hot Chili Peppers. They also tip their hat to a few great old new wave rhythm experimenters like Pylon, Pearl Harbour and the Explosions, and, inevitably, Gang of Four. Her attitude is limitless, unlike her voice, which has a tiresome range that she nevertheless trumps on every track. It's the most fun CD I've heard in 2001; I doubt I'll hear another one with as much energy and esprit.

I saw Brassy last week at south-by-southwest in Austin, bought the CD, and can't stop listening to it. It is infectious and original and grows and grows and grows on you until you can't put it away!

Note to self: GOT to stop buying an album based on a moderately catchy first single with a marginally compelling video played in endless rotation on Mtv2.

Note to readers: Yeah, "Work It Out" is a guilty pleasure, with its percussive crunchy guitar lead and prima donna beyach tude. If you've seen the video, it is hard not to find yourself smiling slyly in begruding admiration of the S-A double S-Y Muffin, and harder still to resist tapping your foot to tha BEAT Karen and the scratchmaster are laying down on this one.

You might be inclined, after seeing it for the fifth time, to say to yourself, "Dood- maybe I should check this band out? They must be doin' something right to get such heavy rotation on Mtv2, right?"

If a sentiment of that sort has brought you here- to thumb through reviews before giving the album a buy- then I hope I can be of some service to you in offering my warning. I will surely be moderated down by the B-U double L-I-E-S I address below, but isn't it the burden of those who are the voice of reason to be a lonely whisper barely audible in a cacophony of babble? Yeah-huh.

To call "Got It Made" formulaic would be an insult to formulas everywhere (with whom I have no beef). Sometimes, bands have winning formulas that they can milk perpetually for material. A sound combined with an aesthetic and, most importantly, a point-of-view. (Consider, for reference, the careers of ZZTop, George Thorogood, Joe Walsh, Jimmy Buffett, etc. - Yes, all dinosaurs to be sure, and possibly in-bred ones, but nevertheless, they each had winning formulas that served them through their careers...)

The songwriter formula at work behind Brassy's album is a losing formula, one most successfully executed on the single "Work It Out". The formula is as follows.

......Endless vainglorious lyrical posturing and bravado ("I Gotta Beef", "Who Stole the Show", "B'cos We Rock", "B.R.A.S.S.Y.", "No Competition", etc.) - On what merits is BRASSY superior to all they survey, you ask? What do they offer as proof that they are better than you and all your ilk? Oh, no reason- just B'COS THEY ROCK.

......The BEAT (variations on a minor-percussion track, probably lifted off some drum-machine from the pre-sets...)

......Non-melodic backing vocals, mostly in a response to questions posed by Muffin, or statements made by Muffin, always reinforcing the POV. Fun.

......Bone dry production values (dehydrated, people, I'm serious).

......No melodies for 100 miles in ANY direction.

......No new ideas for 1000 miles in any direction.

So, for whom is this formula a WINNING formula?

This album seems optimally suited for female junior high bullies scoring on the shallow-end of the IQ test to listen to while gearing up for whupping some nerd's butt in the playground. Outside of that demographic (whose numbers stateside must be in at least the dozens if not low, low hundreds...), I shudder to imagine who could make it through this album without feeling enormous pain and grief, the kind the starts in your wallet and works it way to your stomach, before settling uncomfortably in your mind, using what brain cells remain to carve out the shape of regret slowly, like water carving a canyon.

Buy it, so you can experience what I have. Then write a review that dismisses the album here, on the merits. In time, our numbers will be enough to moderate the overall album rating down to its deserved slot, @ TWO STARS.

Those who enjoy dumbing down this CD, obviously have no sense of humor. This will never be a classic but you will enjoy pulling this CD out every once in a while and acting like a fool!! Some people take music wayyyyy tooooo serrrrious.

I first heard of brassy because the lead singer, Muffin Spencer, is John Spencer (of Blues Explosion)'s little sister. Muffin wasn't really influenced by John but her music is just as good as his. I saw Brassy live and they were definitely one of the best live shows I have ever been to in my life (and I've been to a lot of concerts). Brassy's sound is a fascinating fusion of hip hop, punk, rock, and electronica that I have never heard before and Muffin's voice has a great range that she utilizes. If you have a chance to see Brassy live, definitely go and even if you don't, buy this cd.

2 1/2


This unfulfilling combination of rougher Stereolab and Le Tigre electro-rock-pop-rap elements sounds pretty stale, if maintaining a low consistency.

Ms. Spencer's snotty side-of-he-mouth lyric delivery makes this an awful lot of fun. Many infectious dance tunes, and why "Play Some D" hasn't become one of those sports arena anthems is just mainstream laziness. Good party jams, good with your morning coffee.

Is this a modern masterpiece? No, and it never tried to be. "Got It Made" is just plain fun. If you're looking for your next musical savior, keep looking. If you're looking for a great album to throw on at a party, ala beatsties or gorillaz, definitely give it a shot.