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Funki Porcini is the project of world citizen James Bradell, an Englishman who
spent the 1980s scavenging the San Francisco industrial scene and then
traveled to Los Angeles, New York, Berlin and finally Rome to find his true
voice. Bradell eventually jumped on the trip-hop bandwagon with debut album
Hed Phone Sex (Ninja Tune, 1995),
a textural and atmospheric work that offered a sophisticated blend of
funk, dub, jazz, soul, techno and hip hop
(Dubble, White Slave, Pork Albumen).
Bradell shifted to an angular, schizoid sound for his second album,
Love Pussycats And Carwrecks (Ninja Tune, 1996).
Less dub and more drum'n'bass
bestowed on this second album the feeling of an urban record,
as opposed to the pastoral feeling of his Italian-made debut
(the vibe-based ambience of The Afterlife,
the sexy elegance of Venus, the ethereal collage of
12 Points Off Your License).
An operation similar to
Foetus' deconstruction of big band jazz
led Bradell to the horns-based pastiches of
Carwreck, Groover and The Last Song, clearly a new
artistic avenue beyond trip-hop.
That was precisely the direction of his subsequent
mini-album,
Let's See What Carmen Can Do (Ninja Tune, 1997), virtually a
jazz instrumental album, redefining Funki Porcini as a lighter version of
Squarepusher.
P>
The Ultimately Empty Million Pounds (Ninja Tune, 1999) marks a return to
form, an orgy of horns and breakbeats that alternates between the styles of
the first two albums. Sandwiched between the didascalic manifesto of
Reboot and the free-form avantgarde of
English Country Music, Bradell's heart beats for
the San Francisco sound of the Sixties
(leading to the nostalgic revival of
Rockit Soul , an homage to Country Joe McDonald,
Theme From Sugar Daddy and Cheasy Rider) and for
soundtrack music
(Tears Of Joy, River).
Bradell's only problem on the impeccably arranged
Fast Asleep (Ninja Tune, 2002) is that he is beginning to repeat
himself. The tracks are oneiric and surreal as always, and the technique
is more refined than ever. However, the album (an album that does not introduce
any new element) lacks the momentous song that would make it truly relevant.
Stand-outs include:
Big Sea, seven minutes of
somnolent ambient music for strings and cymbals and (after two minutes) beats
and (after more than four minutes) drums;
the free-psychedelic shuffle 50,000 Ft Freefall;
the swinging old-fashioned jump-blues novelty 16 Megatons;
the fibrillating and syncopated Weow;
and the single The Great Drive By.
The music CD comes with an ambitious DVD of eight abstract mini-films,
that include videos for remixed versions of six songs plus the
cosmic/ambient Atomic Kitchen and Ritmo di Jazz.
Each "video" is a sequence of images that the author deemed appropriate to
accompany the music.
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(Translation by/ Tradotto da xxx)
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