the past and the future
5
By clearsaint
The album, a collaborative effort, is firmly founded in the vision and mixing work of Stefano Zazzera, recording engineer (Moody Mammoth is also his recording studio in NY), busy DJ, bass player, and an almost ecstatic lover of ethereal music. This seems to be the logical background from which Tusk 1 could emerge: produced in 2007, this is tomorrow's electronica that looked ahead to broken beats and ghostlike static. At the same time, it pays homage to a vast palette of past masters, and not just the obvious ones: There are shades of Tricky and Baby Namboos here; "Because" is reminiscent both of the heartbreaking melancholy of Alpha's "Come from Heaven" and of outraged John Lydon on Leftfield's "Leftism." "Letter to You" is simply a gorgeous song, no matter how you classify it. The whole puts together a seamless yet constantly changing fabric: no sooner have you been lulled by a mellow, eerie mood, than you're hit by a dark reality of some strange world. Let's hope there will be a Tusk 2.
