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Handsome Boy Modeling School | So...How's Your Girl??

CD,

Tekst: Ariën Rasmijn

Publicatiedatum: 29 oktober 1999

This record has been talked about and hyped up even before the release of UNKLE’s Psyence Fiction (MoWax-boss James Lavelle’s vanityproject, actually made by DJ Shadow and featuring a plethora of guest-stars). Starring trip-/hiphop producer Dan 'The Automator' Nakamura and Prince Paul (crank-calling inventor of novelty hiphop, produced classics like De La Soul’s 3 Feet High And Rising) as hard-posing dressmen Nathaniel Merriweather and Chest Rockwell, this album also features an A-list of collaborators. The list is long and diverse: Mike D from the Beasties, Miho Hatori from Cibo Matto, Moloko’s Roisin Murphy, Sean Lennon, Spain’s Josh Hayden, DJ Shadow, stand-up comedian Guido Sarducci, Kid Koala and Biz Markie to name most. Exciting stuff huh? Well all I can say is that I didn’t need to listen to it at the shop before I bought it. Good or bad, tight student budget or not, I’ve waited about 2 years for this record to come out, so what the hell.
Was I dissapointed? Nope. What strikes me most about this record is that despite the many names and configurations and despite the fact that all those people got ample space to manifest themselves and do their thing, it’s still very much Dan and Paul’s record. They managed to pull it all together and make an even, coherent record that track by track stands on its own. A monumental feat, just ask DJ Shadow, who programmed and co-produced the mindblowing 'Holy Calamity (Bear Witness II)', the highlight of this album. Other tracks that caught my ear are opener 'Rock n’ Roll (Could Never Hiphop Like This)', 'Metaphysical' (Mike D doesn’t do anything at all on this track 'he’s shit without Yauch & Horowitz', it has to be said-, but Miho Hatori saves it with her bad English and there’s still that great Nina Simone-sample), The Truth (Roisin Murphy crooning over some phat juke joint beats). The concept of the Modeling School could’ve been exploited a wee bit more, but other than that Musical Curriculum's a reportcard you can bring home to mom.

http://www.kindamuzik.net/recensie/handsome-boy-modeling-school/so-how-s-your-girl/791/
Meer Handsome Boy Modeling School op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/handsome-boy-modeling-school