Customer Reviews

Let No One Live Rent Free in Your Head

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Most people are familiar with nicolette by her collaborations with plaid ('extork' on 'not for threes') and massive attack ('three' and 'sly' on 'protection'} but on 'let no one live rent free in your head', her sophomore effort, her talents shine through. she wrote all the tracks and produced some as well. Fans of plaid won't be disappointed either, since four tracks on this CD are produced by them.

Like billie holiday,(who nicolette eerily sounds like and has been compared to) nicolette sings songs full of love and loss backed by pounding drum and bass, lush trip-hop and sonic soundscapes. she CAN be a bit artsy fartsy for her own good but that's not a bad thing. it adds an extra dimension to the songs. for some, this can be a difficult listen at first. it's definitely music that grows on you and demands that you not only listen to the music but also pay attention to the lyrics. nicolette has a lot to say. with exception of the two slow tracks ('where have all the flowers gone' and 'judgment day', her two moments of artsy fartsiness) each track is pure production perfection. the first three songs are the best, although ALL the plaid tracks are pure genius.

'don't be afraid' is nicolette only accompanied by electronic bleeps. a quick minute long number that showcases her billie holiday-esque vocal talents.

'we never know' is the first plaid produced track. nicolette sings ambiguous lyrics ("what do we know now? who do we know? what do we mean when we say so?") backed by an amazing collage of plaid beats. after two minutes of vocals the song breaks into a two minute musical interlude full of swirling plaid synths before nicolette's voice echoes back into the mix. gorgeous!

'song for europe'(which i think is the best track on the CD) she sadly admonishes her lover telling him she's going home to europe "unless you tell me you love me. . .unless you ask me to stay. . .it's cold here and the buildings are grey. . . but if you don't want me around let me know . . . i'm going home". You can hear the sadness in her voice backed with the harsh juxaposition of a manic drum and bass beat. The contrast works so well that the song comes across as being very heartfelt. It gives me goosebumps everytime I hear it.

'beautiful day' is another plaid track. slow and dreamy.

'always' is a deceptively sunny song with a bubbly melody and nicolette's uplifting vocals yet the lyrics are somber as she sings about those near and dear to her heart who have died, how the world goes on even though they're gone and what is the point to life?

'nervous' is a sonic soundscape. loud blasts of grating synthesized noise and breaking glass trail through the speakers conveying a feeling of nervousness while nearly drowning out nicolette's voice. This track is very similar to bjork's 'pluto' (from her 'homogenic' CD) yet whereas bjork's 'pluto' is more dance oriented, nicolette's 'nervous' is more an experiment in sound.

'no government(plaid remix)' is yet another brilliant plaid production. a manic lurching beat, rolling electric guitar riff and nicolette of course. this is a remix of the original version from her debut (which also appears on this CD. a much slower version with weird armageddon horns and a 'marching into war' army type of drumbeat).

'nightmare' is another sonic soundscape full of loud abrasive electric guitar as nicolette sings about her nightmare of domestic tranquilty that she eventually ends up living. a clever track.

'you are heaven sent' a electro pop song about the perfect dream man. as nicolette sings "gotta gotta wake up soon" you can hear her alarm clock going off in the distance as it eventually takes over the song.

'just to say peace and love' is a smoky jazz number with upright bass. another showcase of her vocal talents.

the CD closes with 'don't be ashamed' a repeat of 'don't be afraid' with different lyrics. 'afraid' opens the CD, warning you not to be afraid of what you're about to experience. 'ashamed' closes out the CD telling you not to be ashamed of enjoying what you just experienced.

All in all this is an amazing CD by a little known (at least in the U.S.) but highly talented artist. call her an electronic billie holiday or a black bjork, she's brilliant. It's been well over four years since its release and word has it that nicolette is hard at work on new material. Let's hope so. This is wonderful music that needs and deserves to be heard.

A very unusual album to ascertain, because the subject matter is so eclectic that reasonable labelling can't be easily assessed. Female vocalist "Nicolette", can only truly be described as an `Urban Björk', in that her vocal talents are eccentric & non-conformist, and stretches for high note chords, through to softly ushered musings, and with a quite frankly astonishing sound production, that outright refuses to be anything approaching conventional, and forcing the listener to put significant concentration & aural investment into each (& every) track, that isn't something, that makes for `Radio Friendly' music...Yet in spite of all this, its somewhat chock-o-block full of innovative creation & ideas, that it positively busting at the seams with ideas. (So much so that one of her best tracks "No Government", has been remixed by artists such as "Plaid"), and the producers are confident enough in her singing ability to have her tackle `Intelligent Drum `n' Bass'...'Industrial'....'Trip-Hop'....'Eclectic Electronica' all so masterfully handled that its incredibly hard to imagine any other female vocalist being able to hand such a diversity without dropping the ball on one of the aforementioned genres, and as well as being sometime incredibly refreshing & Challenging to listen to, this is also undoubtedly one of the best Cd's I've had to had to pleasure to listen to so far this year.

This is very rare music. She is a great lyricist, with incredibly irony or something beyond irony. You listen again and again and THEN you see she is coming from a completely oblique angle, not what you thought but something simpler and more interesting. That informs her voice which is like a waking dream, a voice in yr head and yr heart.

I got to know Nicolette tanx to Massive Attack's "Three" and "Sly". This album is really great. It has so many different styles in it. Nicolette is a little bit like the black Björk, and in a sense, it's true. Most of the tracks on the album R balancing between dance and pop ( "We Never Know", "Song For Europe",... ), and sometimes she goes into trip hop ( "Beautiful Day", "Your Are Heaven Sent",... ). At other tracks, like "Don't Be Afraid" and "Don't Be Ashamed ( Don't Be Afraid Part II )", she's just experimenting with electronic music. At other points ( "No Government ( As A Way Of Life ) ( Plaid Remix ) ), she dives into techno. The original version of this track is also really great and danceable. At "Nervous" and "Nightmare" she reminded me of Björk's "Pluto" ( from "Homogenic" ) - she just plunges into a mixture of techno and noise. On "Where Have All The Flowers Gone ?" and "Judgement Day" she reminded me of "Weather Storm" and "Heat Miser" ( Massive Attack, "Protection" ) - a beautiful soft and soothing piano flows through these tracks. But more important ( for me ) is the big feeling of this disk. Some people may find her a little bit artsy fartsy, but I don't think so ; she's really honest, and wise. You can almost hear that she has seen and experienced a lot. She's talking about respect and respecting each other, and dares to question herself ( "Judgement Day" ). She's also not walking away from adressing the problems in this society ( "Song For Europe" ) - more important, instead of bitching down on everyone, she's trying to help by explaining her point of view and thoughts and feelings regarding the subject in a polite way. Just buy it, she's great. Only too bad only a few people know about her. She should release more material.

A former Massive Attack collaborator, Nicolette presents a somewhat interesting yet flawed record that combines trip-hop, breakbeat, funk, soul, techno and electronica. It truly is an edgy and innovative album, still it doesn`t quite suceed at providing a cohesive and very solid final result. It has some intriguing moments and soundscapes, mostly those produced by Atari Teenage Riot`s Alec Empire, who creates a couple of dark and hypnotic gems here, still overall it only makes for a different enough yet average listen. It`s not easy on the ears at times, and a share of songs are really impenetrable. Well, at lest it tries to present something new, even if it is mildly disappointing overall.

Worth a listen, even if it`s an uneven record.

...much love to nicolette for providin me with the coolest album title in my collection!
but:
i wish someone in my head WAS payin rent, maybe they could have advised me to stop bein so damn eclectic and for me to buy somethin i REALLY been wantin, like eric b. & rakim's 'paid in full' cd....damn....
anyway, she aint bad...comparin her to billie holiday is a stretch, but not entirely far-fetched...i'm feelin that comparison. nicolette has that dreamy, wispy, whispery vocal-delivery-thing down pat, she excels when she reaches down into that gut and pulls out them buttery, guttery, guttaral, near-lustful moans...i dig that...the biggest flaw for me is that the production is so damn sparse; her voice is cute and all but a few extra bells and some hand claps mighta helped this out...not no p-funk or anything...but some 'snap' woulda pushed this thru for me.