Saul Williams (Wichita)

an urgent vocal, immanent piano playing, and subsequent minimal harmonious female vocal accompaniment, Saul launches his self titled second album: raucous guitar riffs and beats follow, more angrily focused: one gets a sense of a raving, incendiary live presence

"i wanna show you what the stars are made of, so substitute the anger and oppression with guilt and depression and its yours" White boys listen to white boys Black boys listen to black boys No one listens to no one "

sounds wise, 'Grippo' reminds me of the Anti-Pop Consortium, bleeps particularly, but rather than an electronic base there's a more rock rhythm base, "like Rage Against the Machine" said a friend, although we hadn't had the benefit of a Hi-Fi informed listen to the full cd at that point: or headphones. Frankly, it is a bit Slayer at times, but within the form of the dominant narrative this takes on a whole different ideology: imagine....

"we are discontinuing our current line of braggadacio in light of the current trend in realness stop As an alternative we will be confiscating weed supplies and replacing them with magic mushrooms in hopes of helping niggas see beyond their reality stop Give my regards to Brooklyn" then jump cut to Slayer. He just nails it down. Shot through with pathos, irony and humour. great.

Saul Williams reminds some people of Public Enemy. I think it's a good comparison, something about the depth of his vision, his understanding, his production aesthetic: his use of frequencies as much as instrumentation. You may have heard of him before, on his first album 'Amethyst Rock Star", or seen him acting in the 1998 film 'Slam': in fact his credits also run to at least three volumes of poetry also. check his website, and the rest of the web.

the tracks flow into each other completely, quite literally, in that many of the initial tracks are sequenced-no gaps between them-so the cd has the feel of a live set: i was sorry not to have witnessed his recent set at the 100 Club. The cd continues, with a break in the 'rock base' on 'African Student Movement', a minimal beat and bass number, kind of grime rhythm really, nice reversed bassline, close vocal, some good harmonies. Then his most recent single, 'Black Stacey', an analysis of identity politics, dreams and pressure: the rather minimal lines of identifications available to a young black man, the pressure to cover up ones insecurities with, for example, material wealth.

"All you baller playa's got some insecurities too that you could cover up bling it up cash in and ching it up hope no one will bring it up lock it down and string it up Or you can share your essence with us 'cause everything about you couldn't be rugged and ruff And even though you tote a glock and you're hot on the street if you dare to share your heart we'll nod our head to its beat And you should do that"

Further on, a sense of humour animates:

"i drive a yellow Volvo '86 Submarine Rims like Tibetan prayer wheels and my tank is filled with dreams"

on a more abstract, string and bass led 'Seaweed'. Humour mixed with something more bruised, angry,

"Check your engine Looks like you're running on the blood of Indians".

The cd ends with the track 'Notice of Eviction', a mournful lament to death and possible regeneration: strong lyrics-this man can write, I think: realistic ambivalence, and politically lyrical gravity:

"Harlem church sings refrain "we're marching on to Zion""

nice repeating delay on 'Zion'. Saul Williams comes across as no bodies fool: lyrically provocative, musically, the way he inhabits the genres, yet letting them work for him, is something of an inspiration, the riffs and narrative pan out almost cinematically. He works with others-yes there are collaborators on this cd although you'll have to look a bit hard to find their names on the inlay. Thanks to Hattie Collins and her excellent piece on him in the May issue of I-D.

http://www.saulwilliams.com/

http://www.wichita-recordings.com/

October 2005