Since
he released his first album seven years ago, Luke Vibert
has continuously explored various routes, from hip-hop-influenced
electronica, under his Wagon Christ guise, to drum’n
bass, under the name of Plug. Last year, he teamed-up
with blues musician BJ Cole to produce Stop
The Panic, a surprisingly fresh record, mixing
electronic and electric guitar like no other. As Vibert
revives his Wagon Christ project, he continues to develop
his own unique style.
One of the original Cornwall three (the two others being
Richard
D. James and Mike
Paradinas), Vibert has used the same approach to
music in general, and to electronicity in particular,
as the other two. However, his path took him a slightly
different way. As Aphex
Twin or µ-ziq
have drifted towards from electronica to drill’n bass,
inventing the style in the process, Vibert has remained,
generally speaking, close to his hip-hop roots. And,
when he tried himself at drum’n bass, it came out as
pretty conventional in form. So, is Luke Vibert the
less creative of the three? Not necessarily it appears.
In fact, he has been firmly affirming his own personality
since the early days, and mostly since his 1997 album
Big Soup, released under his own name. Musipal,
released on Ninja Tune, is probably the most varied
Wagon Christ to date. Vibert composes some brilliant
melodies, which he then spices up with enormous beats.
However, using a technique close to cut’n’paste, his
songs sometimes seem to lack focus, as they go in too
many directions at one time. If he usually manages to
hold the tracks together, he fails to keep the interest
going all the way. This gives Musipal an uneven
feel, which becomes slightly annoying at times. Even
the beautifully crafted Thick Stew, the amusing
Natural Suction or the groovy Receiver
can’t salvage the record completely.
If Musipal is not a bad record, it is not singular
enough to captivate Vibert’s audience for long, and
has a slight tendency to become messy at times. Luke
Vibert has proven in the past that he is capable of
better than this. |
