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| Thursday, January 04, 2007 |
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CD Report Card: Mr. Anonymous
By Image Mag Staff @ 3:24 PM :: 325 Views ::
0 Comments :: Music: Artist Spotlight
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wordplay by Brian Kenney
images by Matthew Doubek/AliasKrapMasters
Most artists spend the majority of their career on a quest for artistic control. At a time when "Do it Yourself" may mean the fashionable DIY kitsch-y label (with major industry funding under the table) discovering an artist holding themselves accountable for their own artistic control is a rare find.
Enter Mr. Anonymous: briefcase in hand, taking care of business.
Not exactly in the witness protection program, Mr. Anonymous, (Boulder's Jeep MacNichol) keeps anything but a low profile on his latest the collection of tunes: Mr. Anonymous (2005). Choosing this persona because, as he says, "The name Mr. Anonymous represents the collaborative spirit of the album, and is kind of a pseudo name for me as an artist and producer," he lets the music speak for itself, a nod in favor of his major influences and his preference of styles: "an international mix of reggae, dancehall, hip-hop, salsa, electronica, acoustic, and dub."
From island vibe to theatre swings to cool bops to soft singer/songwriter seaside strains, he's collected together some of the industry's most lauded musicians in a seamless blend. Although his moniker suggests otherwise, his identity is in there, but more as a subliminal pulse or thread running through the whole production; he eases out of the limelight, letting his guests do their thing: Reggae\superstar production headliners Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare, Bounty Killer, Michael Rose (original lead singer of Black Uhuru) as well as Dave Wakeling, (of English Beat and General Public fame) and handfuls of others. "It seemed like anonymity to a certain extent was the best way to present and feature all of the artists on the CD," Jeep recalls. "Kind of like a collage as opposed to a single artist CD."
Like Sting, who changed his direction with his hybrid jazz pop "Bring On the Night," Jeep wanted to do what he couldn’t do in the past: relax and make "no worries no hurries" music. "When I first started compiling music for the album, I had a concept in my mind of making the "ultimate chill vibe" CD with acoustic guitars and dancehall rhythms."
But it’s not only what's on the disc that attracts a crowd, live Mr. Anonymous is an experience unto itself. "[It's] very danceable, melodic, hypnotic and trippy...the focus is always to keep people on the dance floor....and keep their heads swimming in the melody!"
The vibe is the most important aspect, Jeep says. "When we play live, we dub out all of the material...make it trancey, psychedelic and trippy....we feed off of the crowd and it’s a real fluid spontaneous performance...very experimental....nothing planned at all...just a general idea of which tunes and grooves we want to flow together..."
Originally the drummer for Boulder's the Samples, Jeep bailed in the mid '90s, years before the band bastardized their pop vibe into a campy caricature of itself. He opted instead for musical integrity in his subsequent projects, acceding to the forefront of the stage a la Dave Grohl, albeit with Flying V in hand. Early on, the Boulder-based Jeep capitalized on the popularity of the Samples, releasing the comfortable With a Fist (1996) and a folksy self-titled disc in 2001 before switching genres for the island-influenced, Cool & Easy (2002)
He immersed himself into Mr. Anonymous, redefining his approach and vision and reinventing himself on this project best defined as Sublime meets Jack Johnson meets The Wailers with R & B flair. Sample the disc, best served with a Corona, a fine Chardonnay, a Margarita, shrimp cocktail, fish tacos, low tide, clear skies and the tunes: "Good Vibe" (co-written by Rose and Wakeling) "Shylean" (featuring Bounty Hunter) "Harmony Bus" (with Jamaican songster Danny English) and the title track "Mr. Anonymous" DJ'd by Cutty Ranks.
So eclectic, unconventional, and ambitious is this mix, that ironic highlights include the tunes "Always" and "Get Ready" which, composed in a most unconventional and idiosyncratic methods possible, personifies Jeep's vision for "Mr. Anonymous."
"I got this low budget Epiphone acoustic guitar about 7 years ago in Florida," he laments. "It cost less than $100.00 and has been one of my favorites... I broke some strings on it last year and just kept playing with only 3 strings." Close to two decades in the industry has taught Jeep that expensive instruments and overproduction can’t produce the raw sound necessary for his personal vision of his craft.
Whereas some musicians might consider a composition penned on a pawn shop knock off guitar missing the high end strings as a calamity, Jeep celebrates this innovation just as jazz, blues, and reggae greats celebrate spontaneous musical improv. "My "guitar player" friends think I'm lazy about re-stringing it, but I've come up with some great grooves because of it... the songs "Always" and "Get Ready" were written and recorded on this guitar (with only 3 strings)!!!" says priding himself on unconvention.
Jeep plans to take his live show overseas in the New Year, " We are planning to perform in Europe and Japan in 2007. That's where the album is really taking off."
His live show focuses on his most recent aspirations, an all encompassing entourage: "Mr.
Anonymous performs live as a double DJ performance...with all of the different singers on each song," he sums up. "It's the only way to do the material justice [so] I perform with my friend and fellow producer DJ Psychonaut and we also have a live singer from Senegal named Boubacar Diabate."
And don’t count out the fact that Jeep might reinvent himself into another persona during the show, "One thing unique with the live performance is our emphasis on melody as an equal to the groove. So many DJ's focus on primarily the beats, and for me as an artist, what sucks me into a show is an unstoppable melody to push the beat."
MrAnonymous.net
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