Burnt Friedman has become an unavoidable maverick over
the last few years. His many musical incarnations, from
his jazz-fuelled collaboration with Atom™
to the electronic perversions of some of his solo projects,
rarely help to create a complete portrait of the man.
Beside his musical activities, the thirty-seven year
old German also heads Nonplace Records, has produced
numerous records and is responsible for collecting his
favourite tracks from both Atom™,
on last year’s Replicant
Rumba Rockers, and very recently, from Freeform
on Condensed.
Born in 1965 in Kassel, Germany, Friedman confesses
being influenced by German progressive rock, Gary Numan,
Iron Maiden and Tangerine Dream in his formative years,
and this might be key to the variety of his recordings.
Flatly refusing the anonymity of the electronic movement,
he has dropped his numerous aliases to step into the
light in 2000 when he released his first album with
the Nu Dub Players, Just Landed, on Stefan
Betke’s ~Scape label. Avid of exchanges and
collaborations, Friedman has worked with a whole range
of people, including Atom™,
as Flanger, and more
recently, with illustrious Can percussionist Jaki
Liebezeit.
Following Just Landed, this second excursion
into dub sees Friedman giving his machines a rest and
getting no less than twenty musicians from Australia,
South Africa, South America and Germany on board instead.
Can’t Cool opens with the afro-funk Fuck
Back, with singer and performing artist Theo Altenberg.
If the track is not representative of the rest of the
album, it nevertheless kick-starts it in style. The
album then reaches full speed with the beautiful Fly
Your Kite, first of four tracks to feature London-born
Cologne-based Don Abi, co-founder of BANTU and Brothers
Keepers. Setting Can’t Cool on its soul/dub
course, the song combines classic jamaican style with
a deep soul approach, making it one of the outstanding
tracks here. Pater Noster and Dublab Alert,
which follow, once again with Abi on vocal duties, continue
on the same wavelength, although Friedman emphasises
on the impression of space and fluidity of the dub elements
more. The great Lee Perry seems to hover in the background,
keeping a watchful eye on the goings-on. Despite the
absence of any purely electronic constant here, Friedman’s
past experimentations seems to benefit this live environment
well as him and his band work on the atmospheric content
of each track, building the orchestration around the
vocal structures. Life Is Worth Dying For and
Get Things Strait, with Patrice on lead vocal,
appear less dense than the Abi contributions, yet the
restrained arrangements serve Friedman’s cause
equally well. Can’t Cool reaches its
emotional peak with the cover of the magnificent His
Name Is Alive song Someday My Blues Will Cover
The Earth. No other singer than HNIA
vocalist Lovetta Pippen
could do this song favour, so Friedman invited her to
come and revisit it for him. With a new Caribbean feel,
Someday... proves to be as touching and vibrant
as ever. Closing this album with four instrumentals,
including a dub version of Get Things Strait,
Friedman slowly brings his listeners back to Earth and
reality.
As on his work with Flanger
where Burnt Friedman adopted jazz as sole vector of
communication, he gives up all other genres here to
develop once again a convincing performance in his dubful
guise. Can’t Cool is heart-warming and
catchy without being overwhelming or pretentious.
4.6/5 |
