Multiply Additions

ROBBIE GEOGHEGAN's igloomag.com REVIEW ::

(07.04.06) Jamie Lidell has been making waves in the alternative music scene since his first releases on the label that started it all, Warp Records. Muddlin Gear, released in 2000, gained Lidell worldwide renown. His second installment, Multiply moved Lidell closer to the Swing sound. Journalists, reviewers and fans have made many attempts to pigeonhole Lidell's style, to categorize his music into one of the numerous genres that float around on the Warp imprint. Some have compared Lidell to Otis Reading, Stevie Wonder and even Prince. Lidell's blend of soul, jazz and electronic makes for an interesting musical medley to say the least. Yet the latest outing by the British singer/producer only features one piece by Lidell himself, Multiply Additions is basically a remix album but features some masters of the IDM scene to add their slant to Lidell's music.

A former Warp artist, and veteran of the Skam label, Simon Pyke (a.k.a. Freefrom) serves up a twisted funk version of "When I Come Back Around." The track is heavily dancefloor influenced, with some bleep techno echo's and a warped synth solo. The raw lyrics secreted together with some slippery sample mixing makes for a track which bleeds funk with a big beat undercurrent. Served up next on Multiply Additions are Four Tet, offering up their computerisation of "The City." As with Freeform's remix, the soul element of Lidell's original remains an elemental component of Four Tet's version; but now digital glitch and clipped up beeps are laminated over to a 30th century version of Lidell's original score. Techno giant and godfather Luke Vibert offers up a slicked out synth driven mix of "A Little Bit More." A track with a very pop feel, when it comes to vocal tone, layered over with a primitive electro chord line dissected by the bassy chorus to create a rendition with an addictive personality. Yet, the remix seems to smack of a lack of effort. Vibert's version, although having solid elements, lacks a substance that becomes more and more noticeable as the track develops leaving the listener disappointed on the merit and quality of the artist's past expeditions. Mocky gives a remix that is pretty much uninspired, a track that appears frightened to stray from Lidell's original leaving a timid and uninteresting result.

The album picks up again as Matthew Herbert steps into the fray to give the listener two bonus track remixes. Firstly Herbert turns his hand to "Multiply" with Herbert's "Hoedown Bump Instrumental," a quirky shuffling track with an unmistakable clever playfulness reminiscent of the Doctor Rockitt days. Next the old guard experimenter puts his own spin on "A Little Bit More." Once more Herbert teases the original, slowly building up his boyish melodies and plinks. Yet, Herbert's second remix effort pales in comparison to his first. His take on "A Little Bit More," quickly erodes any listener's interest as the track develops but fails to advance.

The album's final track, the Mara Carlyle Ukulady Mix of "Game for Fools" sums up the LP. All the mixes are interesting, but in many respects they stuck too rigidly to Lidell's soul style. Whether or not this is a bad thing is fully open to debate, but in this reviewers opinion the remixers seemed to be hampered when it came to turning their electronic stylings to Lidell's music. This is not to say that the remixes on Multiply Additions are not of worth, although the Mocky take on "What's The Use" is a let down. But, there is a feeling that if the artists had let their own style become more dominant a much more interesting album would be the result. Further listens to the LP do not open up new doorways; they in fact take away from many of the tracks, such as Vibert's remix which on first hearing seems like a good spin on the Lidell's original but sadly becomes dull on further spins.

Quite simply, this album is not especially good. It is by no means an awful release, but it has nothing outstanding as one may have hoped. The premise of the album is a tried and tested formula, artists trying their hand at a different genre, but it is poorly executed on this release. Few of the mixes ring true, others falter after a couple of hearings, others are just plain bad. This album is one to scratch off from the Summer CD spending lists.

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I like the Multiplicity CD alot better--it is pure funk. Multiply Additions sings to a different audience--more techno. It's very innovative, though.

I'd only heard of Jamie Lidell when I heard his album Multiply for the the first time - and since I heard that, I've been dying for a bit more. I checked out his earlier stuff and found mostly incomprehensible elctronica, truly awful stuff. Needless to say, this is much better.

To start with, all of the tracks from Multiply have really catchy tunes. On this album, the tunes remain but in many cases have been beefed up immensely. "When I come Back Around (Freeform Reform)" has a huge thumping baseline, perfect for a club or just grooving at home. The Gonzalez version of Multiply is complemented nicely by piano. The first live track - You Got Me Up - is also a lot of fun.

In fact the only track that I didn't like is the Hoedown Remix of Multiply. It's a bizarre, strange little thing that doesn't seem to borrow much from the original tune. It got on my nerves originally but I enjoy it now. (Even if I don't want to listen to Herbert's other tunes).

If you haven't heard Jamie Lidell, this isn't the place to start; you need to check out Multiply immediately. But if you've heard Multiply and crave more, I would absolutely encourage you to purchase this, because it really doesn't retread the same ground, despite being a remix album.