No Fears

Like so many of the subscribers to this list, I felt anxious at the idea of the Jazz Butcher's demise. I need a band like this in my life. The slow gestation of Sumosonic left lots of time revisit the Jazz Butcher catalog and all the moving tunes that helped me survive, nay, thrive for the last ten years.

I picked up the Sumosonic single on a trip to London in late '96. It was catchy, but gave little sense of what the band was going to sound like. With the appearance of This is Sumo two weeks ago, long curiosity came to a requited end.

I put it in the CD player and worked out listening to it. Clearly, it's no cosmetic reworking. The sound of the band is quite different from the JBC. Fine. The question is, what merits, if any, does it share with the Jazz Butcher stuff? Let's see: cool guitar sounds, inventive song content and construction, lots of ear
candy down in the mix, killer grooves. To these, add these: admirable production, aware of current musical trends - rap, techno - but not enslaved by them.

A dark and happy record.

True, I can't understand 60% of the lyrics, but there's the web page to solve that.

In short, I love it. I can't get it out of the player, just like, in other times, Bloody Nonsense, Fishcoteque and Cult of the Basement. If the Jazz Butcher had to die, then godspeed. Sumosonic lives. LONG LIVE SUMOSONIC!

DaddyWahDiddy Received on Wed Apr 22 17:57:08 1998