100%

Kid Koalaがオーストラリアのハードロック・バンド、Wolfmotherとコラボした新プロジェクト『ザ・スルー』。その原点となったアルバム!2・3年前、Kid KoalaことEric SanとDynomite DことDylan J. Frombachは、当時制作中だったドキュメンタリー映画のサウンドトラックの制作依頼を受けた。二人はその映画のために、サイケ・ロックの雰囲気を持ったスコアを書き上げたが、結局映画自体が日の目を見ることはなかった。彼らが残したそのスコアが今回リリースされることとなったのだ。
Kid KoalaとDynomite Dは、オーストラリアのハードロック・バンド、Wolfmotherの元リズムセクションと出会い、その映画とサントラの話をしたところ、Chris RossとMyles Heskettが強い興味を示し、ぜひ発表すべきだと主張した。その結果、彼らはジョイント・ライヴ・ショーを実現させたのだ(ドラム、キーボード、そして6台のターンテーブルという前代未聞のセットを披露し、ヘヴィーなギター・リフやドラムのビートのカットを駆使した素晴らしい70分のショー)。そしてもともとそのライヴ会場のみでの発売予定だったCDを、今回正式にリリース!

The Slew are not so much a working band or even a hip-hop crew as they are an ad hoc duo consisting of turntablist Kid Koala and producer Dynomite D., who were approached to create the soundtrack for a documentary film. They invested quite a bit of work in the soundtrack, and when the film project fell apart, decided to keep moving forward with the music. 100% is the result, and while its strange (and not always fully digested) blend of rockish guitars, obscure vocal samples, and hip-hop turntable scratching at first comes across as something of a half-formed musical concept, by the end of the album it has long since begun to feel like an organic whole. The most obvious sonic referent here is, strangely enough, the Skip McDonald vehicle Little Axe, a similarly twisted blues-rock-dub project -- except that where McDonald references reggae, the Slew have classic rock and hip-hop in mind, and where McDonald has Adrian Sherwood to deepen and complicate the soundscape, the Slew keep things dark but dry. The title track is an oddly fascinating blend of funky samples and vintage rockism; "It's All Over" brings more turntablism to the mix along with weird spoken word samples; "You Turn Me Cold" minimizes the vocals in favor of more (and wankier) guitar. The vocals are consistently the most mysterious aspect of this project: credits are nonexistent, but these singers are pretty clearly neither Kid Koala nor Dynomite D., so who are they? Are the Delta bluesy vocals on "Wrong Side of the Tracks" by a Delta blues singer, or a modern interpreter? And how about that great vocalist on "Shackled Soul"? The line between salutary mysteriousness and irritating obfuscation is blurred here, but there's no questioning the consistently high quality of the music. ~ Rick Anderson|

The Slew are not so much a working band or even a hip-hop crew as they are an ad hoc duo consisting of turntablist Kid Koala and producer Dynomite D., who were approached to create the soundtrack for a documentary film. They invested quite a bit of work in the soundtrack, and when the film project fell apart, decided to keep moving forward with the music. 100% is the result, and while its strange (and not always fully digested) blend of rockish guitars, obscure vocal samples, and hip-hop turntable scratching at first comes across as something of a half-formed musical concept, by the end of the album it has long since begun to feel like an organic whole. The most obvious sonic referent here is, strangely enough, the Skip McDonald vehicle Little Axe, a similarly twisted blues-rock-dub project -- except that where McDonald references reggae, the Slew have classic rock and hip-hop in mind, and where McDonald has Adrian Sherwood to deepen and complicate the soundscape, the Slew keep things dark but dry. The title track is an oddly fascinating blend of funky samples and vintage rockism; "Its All Over" brings more turntablism to the mix along with weird spoken word samples; "You Turn Me Cold" minimizes the vocals in favor of more (and wankier) guitar. The vocals are consistently the most mysterious aspect of this project: credits are nonexistent, but these singers are pretty clearly neither Kid Koala nor Dynomite D., so who are they? Are the Delta bluesy vocals on "Wrong Side of the Tracks" by a Delta blues singer, or a modern interpreter? And how about that great vocalist on "Shackled Soul"? The line between salutary mysteriousness and irritating obfuscation is blurred here, but theres no questioning the consistently high quality of the music. ~ Rick Anderson