It's about time Jojo!!!!!!!!!!

vinngadd

Member
For those who may not know yet, Jojo Mayer and Nerve's Prohibited Beatz CD is finally available on iTunes!!!!!! I check EVERY Tuesday to see if he's made it available and it's finally here!!!!!!
 
Never used Itunes before. Does it sell mp3s or some kind of special apple format? Can u use the mp3s anywhere?

I am not sure if you can transfer them directly from Itunes to another program like Rhapsody or Windows Media Player, but you can burn cds using it and can transfer it anywhere. There is probably a way you can do it directly but I don't need to and I'm not very computer savvy.
 
I have been listening to this CD for a week now and feel like writing a review. So here it is.

Okay, the album as a whole gets a 7/10 rating for me. There are a few reasons for this. I'll go with the cons first and get to the good stuff later. A big disappointment for me: no drum solos! While there is certainly a huge dosage of insane drum licks and all the sick grooves we're used to hearing from Jojo, he has decided to save the mind-blowing, perfectly-proportioned "drum nirvana" moments for the band's live performances. While I can certainly understand the desire to tone down the act for studio recording, I wish that there had been just 1-2 moments of pure drum mayhem. But it's no biggie - you can get a Jojo fix on Youtube anytime you want.

Another reason for the 7/10: song variety suffers slightly from the genre-specific focus of the album. Now, I know that Nerve is an electronic/jungle/drumnbass group and that they haven't been known to branch out from the uber-fast, breakbeat-style, loop-driven improvisations they rely on. That being said, I would have liked to hear more of their apparent jazz influences, and maybe some more drastic tempo variations between songs. The album essentially repeats this typical formula: 1) establish cool synth lick and repeat ad infinitum, 2) enter drums, 3) enter bass, urge to dance begins, 4) jam, jam, jam, etc., 5) boil back down in reverse order. Again, this is no biggie since Nerve is famous for this certain pathos, and in that paradigm, they deliver.

Okay, pros for the album. It is addictive! This band knows how to groove like no other, and while it may be repetitive and formulaic at times, this really doesn't decrease just your average, basic enjoyment of the album. You can listen through it twice before it gets old, even though I personally think that the musicians could have upped the ante even more by introducing a little diversity.

The band playing behind/in front of/with Jojo (it differs from time to time) is phenomenal. Tacuya Nakamura's synths are obviously a staple of the whole act, and the man is obviously some kind of genius. He layers and textures with brilliance, providing a great chordal structure for the tunes while also subtly changing moods at will by introducing and/or subtracting the electronic elements. John Davis' bass work lines up with the drums like there is some kind of telepathic connection with the two (or, I suppose, like they just talked it over between takes :)), and there is no shortage of groove and class behind the bassist's parts. Roli Mosimann is not particularly evident in the album, besides the occasional delay put on the drums, so I assume he took the role of producer or sound engineer in the project, for which he deserves props, because the album is very well-recorded and well-produced.

I don't even need to speak about Jojo. His playing is structurally brilliant, technically amazing, and above all, musical!

7/10 total for the album. I would recommend you get it, but give it a listen first and see if you like the first 2-3 tunes, the rest of the album will be similar.
 
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