Customer Reviews

Sing the Body Electro

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

 

 

I could not wait to get my hands on the new Mantronik cd. After years of wondering what became of this genuis of electro, he's back. I Sing the Body Electro is an awesome CD. For those who are not familiar with Mantronik, may not fully appreciate the depth and maturity of this recent addition to the Mantronik legacy. It is unfortunate that Needle to the Groove, *** MUSIC MADNESS *** (the greatest of albums), and In Full Effect are not available any more. I am still searching for a copy of Music Madness. You will not be disappointed with this CD. My only complaint is that Traylude, who appears on a a few cuts, is not Mantronik material. Instrumentals would have faired better. Hey Mantronik, re-mix Who is it? for 1998.

Some of the tracks are downright irritation -- check out "Push Yer Hands Up" for that classic line, "Traylude is who I am / I don't eat pork, no I don't eat ham," or "Mad" which was apparently written to set the world land-speed record for use of f-word variants by a female vocalist. And to top it all off, slipping a heavily processed voice into Every Bloody Song saying "You are listening to the sound of Kurtis Mantronik" loses it's originality after a while -- the second time, say.

With that said, "King of the Beat" is an instant club classic, "Original Electro" & "Bush" (yes, with George H.W. in a guest appearance) are widely diverse dance tunes that demonstrate KM's inability to beat ideas to death, and if we lived in a fair world "Baby You Blow My Mind" would be on the rock charts.

this cd was released by flemmish artist mauro pawlowski.
he must be the most talented belgian musician alive. he's started lots of bands, each new one totally different from the last (check out bands like 'evil superstars' and 'mauro & the grooms'). right now he's joined dEUS as their new guitar player to finish their long awaited new record.
'song from a bad hat' has been released on his own name
it contains 11 catchy rocking guitar songs.
for more info http://houbi.com/belpop/groups/mauro.htm
the reviews above have nothing to do with this record.

If I had to choose one adjective to describe this album, it would be "dated," with "cheesy" running a close second. And I don't mean dated in a 1980's electro/electro-hiphop way, which many people (myself included) would find desirable. I mean dated in a late 90's, techno-house, heavily sampled, cheesy rap-flavored way. Like, the worst of the Chemical Brothers meets the worst of Prodigy.

Considering that this album DID come out in 1998, maybe I shouldn't be so surprised. But I expected a lot more from a talented pioneer like Kurtis Mantronik. The Mantronix cuts that I have on various compilation CDs and CD singles still sound amazingly hot and fresh. But then again, I have never wanted to own an entire Mantronix album... because of MC Tee's corny mid-80's rap.

Well, the collaborators the "mature" Mantronik has assembled on this album make Tee sound like the poet laureate. From unnecessary swear words to insecure boasting, they supply the "street cred" (or whatever) that Mantronik sadly continues to hide behind. But even if this album was purely instrumental, it would be a flawed product because of the aforementioned generic late 90's techno-house vibe. Imagine going to a cheesy, unoriginal nightclub spinning "hiphop and progressive house"... this is EXACTLY what you might hear on the system.

If you're still set on buying this album, look for an inexpensive used copy. One final caveat: Since I received this as a Christmas present, I didn't get the import version with three extra tracks. Maybe, just maybe, those extra three tracks are TOTALLY AWSOME (although I doubt it), and lift the album out of lower mediocrity. If you do buy this album, try to get the version with the bonus tracks, because who knows?