Al Jabr "One Million and Three" Alphaphone alpha cd 5 1998 (62:56)
Africa Must be Free (by 2003) (8:45)
Kaleidoscope (8:42)
Hard Rain (5:33)
Burn Out on Precinct 13 (7:43)
Those Who Dare (Funk) (4:50)
Spy in the Sky (3:22)
Afro Americana (5:37)
Somewhere in the Near Future (6:02)
Gone to Earth (4:26)
Click Click Black (7:56)
Written, arranged and produced by rhkirk.
Al Jabr is the latest moniker of Richard H. Kirk, long time member of Cabaret Voltaire and a very productive solo artist. In the 5 years since the last Cabaret Voltaire album, 1994's "The Conversation", Kirk has released well over a dozen discs of material under various names: Sandoz, Sandoz in Dub, Trafficante, Nitrogen, Dark Magus, Sweet Exorcist, Agents with False Memories, the Electronic Eye and his given name. If you're familiar with any of Kirk's previous work than you have a pretty good idea what to expect from him here. "One Million and Three" is by no means a huge step forward for Kirk, but it does contain plenty of what he does best: laid back analog groove. Kirk re-arranges all of his standard tricks: looped layers of analog synths, effects, short spoken samples, down tempo beat and bass patterns, etc. All these things unite into an afro-tribal-electro-funk melting pot. The production is gritty and intentionally distorted at times, there's even a clever disclaimer in the small print on the backside of the cd: "this product contains distortion". Somewhere in the stacks of gear at Western Works Studios Kirk rediscovered the 'funk' knob and cranked it back up for at least half of this album. "Hard Rain", "Burn Out on Precinct 13" and "Those Who Dare (Funk)" in particular are downright booty shakin' funky. "Spy in the Sky" and "Gone to Earth" standout as shorter, space-y interludes and "Click Click Black" pumps the tempo up with a funky, dance floor friendly drum loop. All in all, "One Million and Three" is very danceable and very Richard H. Kirk. Luckily for him he has a loyal following, such as myself, almost always willing to add another of his discs to their stacks. Kirk's discs typically have slick track titles and design/layout/artwork and this one is no exception. The six page b/w insert has pictures of terrorist activities, black and white mens' faces and quotes such as "until the colour of a man skin is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes" and "if words are your only weapons ... talk fast". I love this stuff and can't wait for the next one (apparently a new "solo" album is due in August) ...
Cabaret Voltaire at Brainwashed
Where did I get this cd? - mail order via Riouxs Records.