Killing Puritans [Import]

Armand Van Helden | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 13, 2008)
• Original Release Date: January 1, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: London Import
• ASIN: B00004TG99
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,215,003 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Killing Puritans (Intro)

2. Little Black Spiders

3. Breakdancers Call

4. House Boxing

5. Full Moon

6. Koochy

7. Watch Your Back

8. Hybridz

9. Flyaway>Love

10. Swampthang

11. Conscience

Editorial Reviews

INCLUDES KOOCHY & FULL MOON

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars INTERNATIONAL HOUSE OF HIP HOP, June 15, 2000

By 

Dsc "dsc" (New York City) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Killing Puritans (Audio CD)

Get your servings here. Stacks of floppy beats smattered with a stick of greasy grooves and topped with whipped drumkicks and bass lines as thick and sweet as molasses. Would I have ever imagined I would be dancing in my living room to hip hop? Hardly. But this one did it. When the album's finished, I have to stop and wonder, "Did that music just happen? Did I just hear that?" Truly amazing music.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the album deserves five stars, January 4, 2001

By 

SL (RI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Killing Puritans (Audio CD)

I don't know why some people gave such bad reviews for this album. They say it's not original, it's too loopy, they've heard better, etc. I think Killing Puritan is revolutionary--it shows many talents of Armand Van Helden; he is able to mix and loop metal, jazz, breakbeats, house, hip-hop, rap, electronica and I was quite impressed with his scratching skills in Koochy--and he does all this in one album. It's revolutionary because no one has quite done it as well as he did here. Most DJ mixes are either too repetitive in style or mixing only occurs at the end of each songs. And, I am sick of Hi-NRG house music which all sounds the same and are boring--I'm talking about the type you hear in cheesy clubs. Killing Puritan is revolutionary because he breaks away from mainstream House. The music may not be all that original but the way Van Helden put all together in the album is simply amazing and is very original. Little Louie Vega, Tony Morrillo, Masters at Work are great house DJs but none of them have attempted to create albums as diverse as Killing Puritans. I say, if you like and appreciate house music, this should be a must have album. Don't expect too much to hear Fatboy Slim or Chem Bros, though. It's just different.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best albums in last year, June 12, 2000

By 

Rimma Gizatulina (Ufa, Russia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Killing Puritans (Audio CD)

'Killing Puritans' Recently he's been inviting controversy by knocking his fellow US house artists for failing to say anything and getting stuck in a rut. His response, in this album, is to use influences and samples that would normally be anathema to house music.

Kicking in with a moody hip hop intro on the title track, Killing Puritans leaps through a whirlwind tour of genres. Breakdancer's Call flirts with drum 'n' bass, electro and leftfield jazz breaks. Full Moon is a seriously old skool funky hip hop groove, while Watch Your Back features former Brand New Heavies singer N'Dea Davenport and settles into a tough and funky groove. Hybridz is pure Jungle Brothers hip house, even down to "house your body" hooks. 'Flyaway Love' is a filtered disco offering, while 'Swamp Thing' nods in the direction of Afro beat.

In drawing on rock, hip hop, electro, drum 'n' bass and early electronic artists, Van Helden mirrors the developments dance acts have been making in the UK and Europe, rather than US artists. Little Black Spiders manages to out do big beat, or rather what it became, at its own game. Rather than adding guitars to dance music, the track simply rocks in a straight-forward, head banging mosh of a metal tune.

Again the references are European and Spiders uses a sample from Hanover's The Scorpions, a band that in its heyday was big with long haired, leather clad types everywhere and simply colossal in Japan. Apart from anything else this is a stroke of marketing genius.

The final skill on this album is the incidental inserts between tracks that range from minimal statements to self mocking conversations and direct political references.

Whether Killing Puritans manages to be as boundary busting as Van Helden intends is questionable.

It certainly isn't unheard of for US house DJs to play rock music (Ron Hardy and Larry Levan were both famous for chucking Led Zeppelin or anything else that worked into the mix) and it's not unusual for house acts to produce hip hop music.

But Van Helden has challenged the parameters of house music and produced that still rare thing - a dance album that works at home.