Faithless
No Roots
Out 7 June Before we start, there’s something I have to share: Maxi
Jazz does something to me. And no, this review is not about to
transform into some bizarre kiss and tell story. On the contrary, Maxi Jazz used to make me feel like a very
naïve child. What I am ineffectually trying to convey is the
enigmatic experience projected by his vocals; the almost
prophetic authority of that chanting; the voice that forced the
nation into submission with the anthemic ‘Insomnia’. Indeed, Faithless have been an important British band of the
last decade, in a genre where achieving lasting relevance was
difficult. MJ’s beat driven narratives propelled and
elevated the house revolution and they even fostered the
pre-Eminen talent of a certain Dido. New album No Roots continues to do these things. Sister
Bliss’s big beats aren’t really the soundtrack to youth
culture anymore though, rather a nostalgic reminder of pills,
parties and puberty. The Faithless sound has homogenised. The
massive mainstream success of Sunday 8pm struck a commercial
chord, which the band is continuing, somewhat relentlessly, to
strike. Political consciousness still pervades the fifteen new tracks.
On recent single ‘Mass Destruction’ , Maxi Jazz recites
‘we refuse to see that people overseas, suffer just like
we’. This may be true, but radical messages need a better
vehicle than the aging late 90s production with which Faithless
insist on packaging their sound. P*Nut and Sister Bliss’s ‘Mass Destruction mix’
makes efforts to rehash the single’s bland conventionality,
and manages to raise the funk factor a smidgen. It becomes the
relative stand-out track amongst uniform lowlights. The phenomenal Horace Andy and Massive Attack collaboration of
yesteryear is poorly imitated with the addition of guest vocalist
LSK. His mellow vocals generate an easy listening, chilled reggae
vibe on tracks like ‘I Want More’ but don’t quite
hit the mark. Maxi does his stuff throughout, yet the pounding
rhythms, forced rhymes and stock repetitions, ‘Miss you
less, see you more / Love to know you better’ (x 14) just
don’t resonate anymore. His confusion is manifest: on
‘Pastoral’ he questions ‘all I need to know is
what more I have to do?’. Well, MJ, I for one recommend
nothing. Faithless have past maturity, I think its time for a
dignified retiremen.ARCHIVE: 4th week TT 2004
In Need of Divine Aid
