THE IRONWEED PROJECT is the brainchild of renowned writer, producer and vocalist, Aniff Akinola - founding member of cult Manc. hip-hop outfit ‘Chapter and the Verse’ and co-writer of a stream of hits, most notably A GUY CALLED GERALD’S classic house anthem ‘Voodoo Ray’ and KIRSTY McCOLL’S ‘Walking Down Madison’. With a pedigree that includes credits as co-conspirator with such 90’s electronic luminaries as The Orb, Steve Hillage and The Beloved, it’s no surprise at all that this innovative and funk-fuelled blend of hip-hop, electronica and the blues is laid down so well in this addictive and instantly loveable album. Vocal free tracks and versions of these songs have been available since June, the idea being to invite more collaborators to join the Ironweed train. The finished version journeys like the KLF and hits the spot time and time again.
Vocals slur out old-time histories in the first person during the opener ‘Down To My Grave’ as the low guitar twangs across a freight train clank and a series of broken beats. Groove-powered and filled with a relentless ‘do-it-to-death’ urge to ride the trance, a damning resentment of social change is unfurled. The narratives recur throughout, gorgeously lazy and resigned amidst the bouncing pulse. As ‘Swim Like Whales’ pounds and drifts, electric guitars crash against the rocks and digeridoo noises mimic the huge mammals’ sound as the reverb echoes like a depth charge somewhere below.
Shuffles and scratches pepper the understated swing of ‘She Wore Hi-Heels’ as it shimmers - sepia toned and distant, but very beautiful, whilst the murmured brass blare of dancefloor filler ‘Get On The Floor’ jumps to a compulsive beat that shifts in and out of focus along with the vocal loops. Eyes-rolled vocals recall a genre-defying swipe at the pigeonholing process.
|
Further in, momentum gathers and the melancholy swells – the twanging melodies melt and breathe ethereal life into the haunting and driven ‘All By Myself’.
With old skool rhymes like a hopscotch or skipping rope/handclap ditty and the bass in full effect, ‘Boom Boom Clap’ rumbles and hollers with the sound of the Devil himself as the alchemy reaches fever pitch. ‘Lovemakers’ underscores this with a rallying call for Utopian free lurve that comes with busy beats and gentle wah FX, double bass sounds and gentle, soothing strings.
‘Friends and Family’ rumbles into earshot, scratching loops combined with funky brass, only to mash up, over and out like a crazed interlude. Trip-hop half-speed dramas unfold in the remix of ‘All By Myself’. Seventeen tracks all in all: by the time ‘Perfect Reprise’ skips into view as an appropriately named stoned and dumbfounded finale, you will be sold completely. Absolutely mashed up to buggery and right in the groove, this is a box-fresh delta groundbreaker that just can't fail.
|
