Jack Daddy Loops AKA Loopty - "Vol. 7" (ABC Co. 2004)
Jack Daddy Loops AKA Loopty - "Vol. 7" (ABC Co. 2004)
Uploaded to Aural Innovations: December 2003
Jack Daddy Loops AKA Loopty (aka Barry Greenberg) plays a spaced out brand of beat driven DJ and trip-hop music, often with heavy rock and progressive rock influences. It's an interesting mixture, and those of you who read my overview of his first 7 CD's in AI #24 (Vols 1-6 and A Day In The Life Of A Fairy) will know that starting with Volume 6 Jack Daddy made a qualitative leap, in both sound and composition. So it's very much with that album in mind that I'm hearing the new Jack Daddy album.
Volume 7 starts off on a slow note with "Blackout 2003". The song begins with a bassline that brings to mind... The Archies! Yeah, no shit... to me that cool! (Barry will think I'm nuts when he reads that analogy.) But after a moment the bass is joined by hip-hoppy beats that jam along for a bit until some funky guitar is added to the mix. So after a few minutes I'm starting to wonder where all this is going when some fuller rockin guitars (and maybe keyboards too) kick in, adding a spacey and even metallic edge to the music. There's one riff that I love and combining it with the hip-hop beats is nicely weird. The whole thing is mostly an exercise in rhythm and beats, and there's some killer rock near the end of this nearly 9 minute track. But for the most part it consists of various embryonic bits that have potential for larger tunes.
Things start to pick up with "Morning Fog", which has a very nice piano melody combined with the trademark Jack Daddy penchant for laying down a rhythmic pattern against which the music develops. BUT... there are also meteor shower alien synths and a spacey keyboard line, both of which provide an interesting contrast to the angelic piano sing-song element of the track. Very nice. The hip-hop influences take center stage on "8 Hours A Poke ("Do It"), though Jack Daddy doesn't do anything in a standard way, adding lots of freaky fun efx and embellishments to the music, along with prog rock styled ethereal keyboards. "Twilight Stomp" is a similar freaky dance track but with lots of UFO sound efx.
With "Seasons" we're really starting to cook. The song opens with proggy atmospherics that serve as an intro before launching into a 70's styled funk and space bit that blends Stevie Wonder with cosmic jazz and trip-hop. Sweeeeeeet. For "Treadmill" Jack Daddy heads in a different direction, pulling out his axe and rocking hard, blending grinding guitar chords with spacey keys and rocking rolling rhythmic patterns. Totally sci fi but from a keg party bar band perspective. Very cool. "Glass Showers" sounds like it could be the soundtrack theme to some cop flick... or at least that's how I imagine it. But that's only part of the song. The soundtrack feel alternates with a spacey prog rock keyboard theme, colored very nicely by tribal percussion and DJ dance beats. Lots of variety and nice melodies, but it remains cohesive throughout. And "Ultraviolet Electric Lighting" wraps up the album with the ultimate marriage of DJ dance and cosmic space.
Having heard a fair amount of Jack Daddy's music now it's clear that there are a variety of styles that interest this artist and that he's able to bring together in intriguing ways. I can't say whether or not I like this better than Volume 6, but what's important is that he's continuing down the same path, the result being a fun and spacey set of cosmic Beat driven tunes.
For more information you can visit Jack Daddy Loops AKA Loopty at the Barry-G web site at: http://www.barry-g.com.
Contact via snail mail c/o A Better Cartridge Co.; 46 Main Street; Brockport, NY 14420.
Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz