I had absolutely no information about RJD2 before listening to “The Colossus”, having never heard of him or to my knowledge ever hearing any of his work, all I knew was that his genre was listed as Hip-Hop. By the time the first song “Let There be Horns” had finished I thought he was going to be a Hip-Hop version of Frank Zappa, blending styles and genres into one spacey slice of time, Jazz, Middle Eastern, Hip-Hop, Electronic, Rock and some 70’s porn music all making an appearance, and this was in the first four minutes. The rest of the album has to be this diverse too, right?
I learned whilst researching RJD2 that this is his fourth solo album in the last 10 years, starting out on the now almost-defunct Definitive Jux label with his label debut “Deadringer” in 2002. I also learned that fans of RJD2 are torn on this album, some saying it’s better than “The Third Hand” (his release before this one), some saying it’s on par, and most saying it’s nothing compared to “Deadringer”. With the opening song being an instrumental I was left unsure as to whether RJD2 was an MC, a DJ, a singer, a musician, a rapper, or all of the above, but I did know that he knew how to craft a beat. “Games You Can Win” is the album’s second track and it features singer-songwriter Kenna singing soulfully against the backdrop of triangles, electronic swirls and a beat that favours the kick drum. “Giant Squid” takes off where the first track “Let There be Horns” left off as he brings out the harpsichord, organ, electric guitar, hand-claps, paradiddles, chunky funky bass lines and what sounds like a harp half-way through, giving off the kind of feel and sound you might hear from Ratatat.
Curiously he has an intro to the album four songs in, followed by “The Glow”, a song with a singer but has no featured artist attached so I’m left to assume it’s RJ himself singing, the voice similar to Robbie Williams and a scratchier Ben Gibbard from Death Cab For Cutie. It’s faster and more upbeat than “Games You Can Win”, piano-driven and a basic beat at it’s centre, it’s a soulful number that can be sung loudly if your falsetto doesn’t break cats or attract windows. “Spaceship For Now” is another instrumental but has the biggest beat yet, it’s industrial and electronic, as if he’s trying to write the soundtrack to our forthcoming post-apocalyptic world as you cruise by in your evacuation bus looking at ruined buildings and cars aflame. “The Shining Path” featuring Phonte Coleman is a harkening back to Motown, mixing soul with a children’s lullaby sung by Boyz 2 Men, xylophones akimbo, but falls flat at the chorus and limps out on one leg with a repeating piano riff. “Crumbs Off The Table” featuring Aaron Linvingston sounds like a James Brown meets Chromeo tribute with a backing vocals similar to Outkast, the same swirling electronic that we heard on “Games We Can Win” that abruptly kick into a solo and then stop for some smooth Jazz trumpets, the main redeeming feature about the song.
On “A Son’s Cycle” we finally get treated to some Electro-Hip-Hop, the kind I was hoping for after the first song. Featuring The Catalyst, Illogic, and NP the rapping is raw and shadowed by funeral-like piano chords, a kid’s mobile and haunting strings that make you look over shoulder to see if you’re being followed by some kind of masked hockey player. As “The Colossus” progresses the music fails to. Whilst fusing an untold amount of genres with insurmountable instruments, you can’t help but feel like you’ve heard this seven times already in the last half hour. “Tin Flower” and “The Stranger” are an example of this, as is “Small Plans” with the latter’s only discerning quality from previous songs being its quick beat and catchy fuzz-laden bass hook, unfortunately drowned out by stuttering yells. “Gypsy Caravan” however delivers, three-fold. It’s a straight-up rock song, the beat taken from “We Will Rock You” and a guitar solo pinned back by the vocals. It’s short at 2:13, and the first 0:40 of that is taken up by the sounds of the running water, a slow jangly guitar and maracas, but the 1:33 of content is possibly the best on the album.
“The Colossus” is eclectic, that’s for sure, a body of work that spans multiple genres and even eras, with flashes of brilliance and disappointment interspersed throughout. Unfortunately it’s the disappointment that wins overall, the album as a whole not offering me much to come back for, other than the 1:33 of goodness on “Gypsy Caravan”, and if an album can only offer me 1:33 of worthwhile music I may as well just not bother.
I’ll forgo another listen and just check out “Deadringer” instead.
5/10
Worth checking out: Ratatat, DJ Shadow, The Avalanches
Buy “The Colossus”
“Listen Before You Buy” – “The Colossus”
