The souljazz orchestra parasite zombie
Things get more up-tempo in the spirit of Humanoid Erotica with the G-Funky space jam “Eternal Type Satellite”, “Various Randoms” in its entirety, and “Galaxy Class” which contains beat breaks ill enough to get people forming a circle for the BBoys and BGirls all before it evolves into a more expansive spectacle. There’s the flute on “Magic Flute” hitting Minnie Ripperton level whistle-registers, the woebegone strings and woodwind on “Losing You”, and the dancing hi-hats and buoyant bass on “Thirdbass Allday”. Elsewhere, fleshed-out characters are created within the tracks from the instruments themselves. Even the first track “Thoughtform” – which, true to its name, initially sounds like a discordant tangle of musical synapses firing uncontrollably – becomes something more malleable in Fat Jon’s mind as he subtly draws out harmonious elements. The elements of music are like tai-chi delicate in their movement but resolute in their purpose. I credit this to what I believe to be Fat Jon’s masterful use of nuance you’ll find transitions occurring effortlessly and instrumentation coming and going stealthily from all corners of the tracks. It happened to me with Humanoid Erotica and, in time, it’ll likely happen to me with this. However, it’s in the replays that things come to life each one revealing a new layer, a new favourite track, until the whole thing damn near sounds like a masterpiece. But here goes… Like I’ve found with the bulk of Fat Jon’s discography, Rapture Kontrolle sounds almost inoffensive upon its first spin as it predominantly utilises familiar elements of down-tempo music to induce head-nodding grooves. Because of this, there’s a slight apprehensiveness in writing about his music, like anything said will be a pretentious attempt to define his assured craft which, in all truthfulness, escapes many definitions. I’d always been a fan of instrumentals, however self-sufficient instrumental music is arguably something different – but unarguably something Fat Jon is legendary for. Under the auditory tutelage of Humanoid Erotica (and a handful of other records at hand) my eardrums wised up to the joys instrumental music had to offer. With Rapture Kontrolle, Fat Jon returns under the alias of Maurice Galactica (previously heard on 2002’s Humanoid Erotica) to present another round of interstellar beatscapes.