Mysteriously connected to E of the Eels, the enigmatic MC Honky may not traditionally be an MC, but his debut record could be called the most personal big beat party record in quite some time. Grabbing from 50s self-help records, found audio sound collages, vocoders, and a good deal of hoodoo. Fatboy Slim wishes he could lock down a groove as propulsive and irresistible as "The Devil Went Down To Silverlake," which sounds like what would happen if aliens tried to reconstruct the music of the sixties with melisma from Fontella Bass, the theme from Laugh-In, and quaaludes to go on. I adore it completely.
The track "The Object," heard here in its original breakbeat version and in an "unplugged" ambient rethink at the end, first popped up two years ago in the film The Anniversary Party, and I'd been wondering when the mysterious Honky would surface. His beats slam, and he even manages to go Beck one better with his "3 Turntables and 2 Microphones," soon to be heard at hip-hop DJ battles the world over.
My personal fave is "Soft Velvety 'Fer," a warm epic about alienation, weird dreams, and Zoloft, sampled and edited from a voicemail message which may in fact be earthly goddess Jennifer Jason Leigh.
It is a shining jewel of beauty, and its warmth can only help the world. Current single "Sonnet #3 (Like A Duck)" is pleasant and effusive, and it should appeal to fans of floor-friendly big beat. Its animated video can only help- its wry humor is a nice change from most contemporary videos. Don't sleep on this one.
