Dishpassion

Artist: Broadway Project
Album: Compassion (2xCD release)
Released in: 2002

I have washed the dishes in the past month, I swear. There are excuses major (dissertation) and minor (houseguests), but I hope to get back on the wagon now.

Another one of the minor excuses was that I had a two-CD set of Broadway Project to get through, one CD of which was quite long and required several dish-washing sessions. I also did not like the long CD, which naturally kept me from really wanting to listen to BP anymore. But I did, and I was somewhat rewarded.

Broadway Project is a British one-man operation that does sample-heavy late-night jazz-influenced downtempo.... a little like Funki Porcini. However, in the first disc in this double set, the lack of structure in the songs really bothered me. Don't get me wrong - some lack of structure is fine - I am a big fan of Windy and Carl. But this was the kind that grates on me -- it just meandered aimlessly through atmospherics without deigning to offer something to hang your hat on: a pretty melody, an interesting rhythm part... nada. I generally very much enjoy this genre, but this album drove me crazy.

The reward: the second disc was suprisingly better. It's a collection of BP's earlier singles and rarities, and the songs just work more. Perhaps BP thought of his album as one long stretch of atmosphere, whereas the singles were more concentrated and (in my opinion) effective? Who knows. What I do know: I will not listen to the first CD of this set for a long time.