Working with a smaller set of musicians -- and for a smaller label -- the multi-disciplinary artist
Carl Hancock Rux
delivers what is arguably his most musical album to date. There are more "songs" on
Good Bread Alley
than on the poet/author/vocalist's previous efforts, and
Rux
also uses his deep baritone singing voice more than usual.
Hip-hop
and
electronica
make brief appearances, but most of the sounds here are neo-
cabaret
,
neo-classical
, or downtown loft
blues
, played naked and live enough to suggest what a one-man show from
might sound like. On the opening title track,
drags behind him the faux synthesized orchestra that appears throughout the album. Decidedly fake horns and strings plod out the tune, denying their leader's
Gil Scott-Heron
-styled tale of "why didn't we see it coming" which fades in and out like a radio station on the edge of reception. From here,
becomes more approachable, more warm, less produced, but no less evocative. The tales of "wine and war" mentioned on
"Thadius Star"
-- a song originally written for former
Brooklyn Funk Essentials
member
Stephanie McKay
's solo debut -- contrast wealth and poverty, success and failure, hope and disappointment.
has a firm grip on his art but he's humbled by the complexity of modern life and doesn't offer answers as much as advocate awareness. He recites his prose if need be, but more often sings his message with the earthy tone that has earned him the
experimental
tag he's been pigeonholed with. The desolate
adds
Brecht
Weill
to the jumble of influences, along with
Massive Attack
, who's spirit is deep in the song's sensual slinking.
"Black of My Shadow"
puts
spirituals
Billie Holiday
through
William S. Burroughs
' cut-up treatment, while the taut
"Living Room"
unleashes the old-fashioned, straight-ahead
R&B
, although the "Soul fury!" shouted out in the song speaks to domestic violence instead of
Stax
. There's also an incredible, heartbreaking cover of
Bill Withers
' protest song
"I Can't Write Left Handed"
here to prove
is also a gripping performer and interpreter. Still, with all the advancement he has made as a musician, his spellbinding words still offer the richest rewards and are the most responsible element in making
the potent triumph it is. ~ David Jeffries