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DJ Vadim :: Edie Brikell 12" [Ninja Tune]

Tracklisting:
1. Edie Brikell feat. Slug (album version)
2. Edie Brikell feat. Slug (Sixtoo's Bush at the Helm remix)
3. Edie Brikell feat. Slug (acapella)
4. Cum Shots feat Yarah Bravo
5. Cum Shots feat Yarah Bravo (instrumental)
6. Cum Shots feat Yarah Bravo (acapella)

Seems like there have been loads of releases from DJ Vadim's Art Of Listening LP, but they have also been filled with new tracks that don't appear on the LP, so even if you already copped that there is still a reason or two to rummage in your pockets for this one too. The LP closed with the Edie Brikell track which features Slug and so many people may have been less familiar with it than some of the other tracks. Never the less, although it is not an upfront club banger it is not a complete shock choice for a single, especially due to the guest MC appearance of Slug, who following his recent visits to the UK and his LP 'God Loves Ugly', is in the forefront of everyone's minds. Here Slug lets us all in on his views on why certain rappers try to get into making music, when perhaps it is often the case that many are sub standard. The track is another tasty, if non-energy inducing chiller for which the verses are filled out with folk type guitars and added to with an evokative brass section for the choruses. Top sampling again from Vadim.

The 12" also includes a remix by Sixtoo, the Bush At The Helm mix, which tries to give the track a hard rock edge, but utilises a very familiar grungey distorted guitar power riff giving this a very formulaic and for me not entirely appealing edge. All that needed to be done in my opinion to harden up the original would have been to remix the drums, replacing the soft jazzy ones with heavy Bronx style in your face ones.

On the B-side is the all new material, a rather relaxing and funky piece featuring the semi spoken word / semi sung rapping of Brazilian poetess Yarah Bravo. Cum Shots is another classic in the Vadim canon, all chopping, spaced out drums, electric-piano-led funk minimalism with freaked up lyricism on top. It is meant to be taken as a metaphor - a take on the process of how the commercial entertainment industry pimps it's people. Written as a love affair between two people - the artist & the industry. "Before bodies broke them self's into cum not, cum spots, cum shots". On the 12" you also get the instrumental of Cum Shots as well as accapella versions of both the tracks.

The cover designed by Openmind features the same piece by Dorco of the FBI Crew in Paris which was used to such good effect on the LP and it is nice to see a return to incorporating graffiti into the proposal. So another strong 12", even if not all the elements resonated fully with me, but that is bound to be one of those personal things and shouldn't prevent you from trying it out yourselves.

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