N.A.S.A: The Spirit of Apollo
N.A.S.A: The Spirit of Apollo
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Sunday, 15, Feb 2009 01:04
Spectrophonic, out now.
In a nutshell...
Old skool hip-hop meets electro on an intergalactic musical mission aided by 40 co-collaborators.
What's it all about?
The Spirit of Apollo is a concept album from North American producer and DJ Squeak E Clean and the South American DJ Zegon aka Sam Speigel and Ze Gonzales. They're a pair of ex-skaters who plumped for a change of career and ended up in a studio living out a space-age musical dream.
Six years later and they've realised their ambitious album while simultaneously becoming the demented studio ringmasters of a maximal mix up of electro and hip-hop. It's garnished with an array of the sharpest artists out there currently giving the zeitgeist a good kicking.
Who's it by
Who isn't it by? Ex-Talking Heads mainman David Byrne, Tom Waits, Kanye West, M.I.A., Santogold, reggae Sizzla, Karen O from Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Lovefoxxx from CSS, George Clinton, Brazilian boy Seu Jorge as well as a number of hip-hop luminaries including KRS-One, Kool Keith, Spank Rock and Ol' Dirty Bastard. These two must know the musical celebrity Yellow Pages like the back of their hands.
As an example...
"Some way when those two Americans, stepped on the moon/The people of this world, were brought closer together/And it is that spirit, the spirit of Apollo, that transcends geographical barriers and political differences/It can bring the people of the world together in peace."
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys
Some of their collaborators have already been - most recently the then heavily pregnant M.I.A. And arguably these two are more talented.
What the others say
"The War Child album assembles an impressive list of artists, this debut from the North American producer and DJ Squeak E Clean and the South American DJ Zegon rises to its challenge, with Tom Waits, MIA, David Byrne, Kanye West, Santogold, Lykke Li and Chuck D on the roll call. On the down side, The Spirit of Apollo's relentless party vibe becomes, just like many parties, a trifle wearing." - Times
"Fair play to Spiegel and Gonzales for actually getting most of these names in the same room, though (rather than phoning in performances as is usual for this kind of project) but it's better as a collection of tracks to happen across on shuffle or at a party, than as a complete record." - Metro
So is it any good?
While it's hard to fault the ambition of the whole endeavour and being able to find telephone numbers for the elusive David Byrne and a studio big enough for the increasingly peculiar ego of Kanye deserves extra marks in itself, sometimes too many musical cooks can spoil the broth.
When the unions bounce off each other, there's a true sense of N.A.S.A lifting off - check Gifted featuring Kanye, Santogold and Lykke Li. Elsewhere there are enough party jams to have booties pleasingly twitching.
But with such a cast behind it the weight of unfulfilled expectation hangs over the record. And with the likes of Kool Keith, Gift of Gab, Ztrip and Jurassic 5's Chali 2na busting on the mikes it doesn't sounds so much space age as rooted in the daisy age.
6/10
Jim Ottewill