Customer Reviews

Sexotica

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This CD is a must for people who think that jazz is dead. Steven Bernstein, the man behind the Sex Mob, brings some of the lost arts of the old school back to jazz. These include the blending of sounds and musical genres - movie themes, pop hits of yesteryear - reminiscent of the Art Ensemble of Chicago and the big band fire of Charles Mingus. The Sex Mob is tight but not like a classical orchestra, more like a New Orleans brass band or the raucous cutting session bands mythologized in Robert Altman's movie "Kansas City." Loose but tight, with individual voices blended but not too smooth. Kinda like chunky peanut butter. Kick back with a beer and a bowl and feel this music in the head, the heart and the soul.

This CD is not for the ascot-wearing, pipe smoking concert series subscriber set who like there jazz homogenized and with no dissonances, the kind where the players wear tight clothes and expressions of grim reverence. This CD is a party.

Steven Bernstein has, over the past decade or so, proven himself as one of the most interesting musicians on the jazz scene (using the term "jazz" quite loosely, of course). In the late 90s he came to prominence as musical director for John Lurie's Lounge Lizards. Soon after he emerged with Sex Mob, a dirty, funky band that was highly original, incredibly dynamic and pretty darn irreverent.

With Bernstein's quirky slide trumpet, Briggan Krauss' commanding presence on saxophones, and the rock solid rhythm section of Tony Scherr (acoustic bass) and Kenny Wollesen (drums), the band seemed unstoppable. In their first 3 years they banged out as many albums - 'Din Of Inequity', 'Solid Sender' and then the masterpiece 'Does Bond', a collection of mostly incidental cues from the James Bond films. It's worth mentioning that on this album the band was augmented by organist John Medeski, and on occasion, 3-part "soul choir", which made the sound atmospheric and exotic.

This, along with the fact that Bernstein dabbled in "Jewish exotica" on albums like 'Diaspora Soul' and 'Diaspora Hollywood', made me think that he was almost destined to make an album like 'Sexotica', exploring the exotic sounds pioneered by the likes of Martin Denny.

But despite all of the above, the album just seems to miss the mark. Apart from the awful title, it appears that Bernstein and co. have tried to cover too many bases and somehow end up missing on most counts.

Firstly, approaching the album from the exotica angle - it's all very well to name drop an influence like Martin Denny, but if the resulting music doesn't actually sound anything like said artist it just seems a bit pointless. We've heard Bernstein do the laid-back vibe on the 'Diaspora...' albums, but here it just sounds like funky grooves with the same old freaked out horns that Sex Mob always had.

But then, if you try to ignore the 'exotica' idea and just listen as if it's another Sex Mob album, that doesn't work either. The tunes are just too repetitive, not to mention that the GoodandEvil production has mellowed out the drums/percussion so much that it just sounds like electro-drum programming and we hear nothing of Wollesen's great virtuosity or character.

So, I'm afraid the other reviews have it right - this album is a rare stumble by Bernstein. I only hope that people don't write off this great musician based on 'Sexotica'. I strongly recommend you check out Sex Mob's 'Does Bond' as well as Bernstein's 'Diaspora Soul', these will give you a far better idea of his capabilities.

A cynical way to describe this CD would be "lurching beat with trumpet & saxophone squalling". Sex Mob sometimes works for me, like on the CD "Solid Sender", and sometimes leaves me a little cool, like on "Dime Grind Palace". Sexotica leaves me a little on the cool side, though some tracks are definitely hot. This CD was made a little differently. The band, with Mike Dillon on tabla, recording their parts live, and then handed the tapes (or files) to Good & Evil. The music was then re-mixed, and additional sounds were added. For the most part, the Good & Evil additions are kept in the background, and don't distract from trumpet, sax, bass & percussion. If the band is raising a ruckus, there will other ruckus-making sounds added. That's how it was made, but I think it's a three star CD simply because not enough of the songs are strong enough.

Nothing chaps me more than squandering $20 on musical dribble, and that's just what I did when I purchased "Sexotica." I was still dizzy from Steven Bernstein's "Diaspora Soul" (which is truly phenomenal) and, knowing nothing about Sex Mob, decided to drop 20 on the LP. Big mistake. I need to learn to read the editorial content more closely. In this case, Amazon described it as "playful, mysterious, and seductive." Apparently, my mind quit there and didn't digest the rest of the sentence: "yet it's anything but easy listening." That's an understatement. There is a flash or two of brilliance on the LP, but overall it's like waiting for a fireworks show and getting a single bottle rocket instead.