Nublu Sessions is not directed at chillin’ you out (even if it might occasionally allow that), but rather at dropping you into the metropolitan mix. The song shakes us free of the comfort zone, releases us from the expected, and from here on out the album cross-pollinates cultures and countries, mixes beats with jazz, rhythm and rhyme. It begins in earnest with “Flights in Dub”, harnessed by Jamaican sound system veteran U-Roy. Much more interesting is “Angels” four tracks in, during which Jones suggests a delicious understated sexiness, and the album begins to spark a flame. Her performance on this track displays elegance beyond reproach, albeit without a super-abundance of flavor. Jones’s recent success, it’s easy to see why the album would begin here. The opening track, “Tell Me”, features vocals from chanteuse de jour Norah Jones. Nublu Sessions reminds you of this, even if it doesn’t quite begin that way. It was music that came at you with a distinct viewpoint. Trip-hop and acid jazz started out as something other than music disappearing into space, different than sounds afraid to offend. Besides, didn’t we used to call sounds for hotels and elevators “muzak”? Their message speaks directly - they are late heirs to a more innovative music, a music that preceded the glut of lay-low releases that saturated us to the point of drowning. However, Wax Poetic are a band, and their songs have an organic feel that suggests as much. To judge by its cover, the recent Wax Poetic release Nublu Sessions suggests another down-tempo compilation, pieced together to fill a vacuous lounge space. When it comes to the human touch and album cover art, it seems the best dance music can offer is the allure of a nubile young body, utterly irrelevant and undressed to kill either that, or it’s a mug-shot of a scowling DJ, caught like a criminal and equally wondering, “Just how did I get here?” Also, the vast majority of dance music releases are compilations, killing any possibility of identification through the specific. Dance is a largely faceless genre, one that stands without benefit of photogenic quartets or charismatic crooners. Publishing houses have plugged thousands of dollars into learning precisely what draws readers to a particular book or magazine, and entire books have been devoted to the trends of album cover art.ĭance music, as a genre, has relied more heavily than most on the clean futuristic lines of modern graphic design, and for reasons that are easily made accountable.
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