Irresistible Force
It's Tomorrow Already
(Ninja Tune)
Mix Master Morris (Irresistible Force) is one of those artists who has been around for quite some time making his own blend of mid-tempo, light groove electronic music. His work has always been solidly constructed and he had so much screen time (probably because he's a charismatic speaker with just the right touch of goofiness) in the movie Modulations that I was completely surprised that they didn't include one of his songs on the soundtrack. He's released numerous albums and appeared on even more compilations, and even by looking at the cover of It's Tomorrow Already, you should be able to get a good idea of the sound of the thing.
On 8 tracks that span an average of 8 minutes apiece, MMM has again put together another release with long tracks that wander on and on and leave you feeling like the dayglo stylized rabbits on the cover. It's not so much music that will make you want to dance, but simply go about whatever you feel like normally doing with it playing in the background, giving things a slightly more grooving sheen than they had before. While it's on the Ninja Tune label and has some things in common with other artists on the label, it's much different in that there is never any scratching on any of the tracks and although there is a lot of sample-based "storytelling" in the songs, the beats never get hard or dark in the slightest.
The album opens up with the track "Power" and aptly the sample that makes it's way through the music is an argument against the centralization of power. The track moves along with some soft blips of sound and a wankering bassline and synth strings and even though the track is political in nature, Mix Master Morris seems content to let it slowly seep into the listeners head rather than pound it into them (which is probably the right approach anyway). "The Lie-In King" is even trippier than the first track with a slower beat, drifting flute noises, and beats that sound more disembodied than anything else as it drifts into ambient territory.
The standout tracks (although they're all pretty decent) on the disc come closer to the end of the disc in "Fish Dances" and "Playing Around With Sound." While the former tinkers around with some more ethnic middle-eastern sounds, it eventually gets a pretty good groove while an echoed-out vocal snippet talks about all the different animal dances, including that of the fish in the title. It's kind of goofy, but so is the latter track that works some rather funny samples as well, while all kinds of swirling sounds (including chimes, horns, and all kinds of other things) fill in the gaps. Once again, the beat on the track is just enough to keep things from completely slipping into nothingness, and it's another solid track.
Really, the only problem with the disc is that many of the tracks have similar structures and sounds used within them, so sometimes they tend to drift together a little bit and the album is a bit on the homongenous side overall. Of course, it doesn't really matter too much that all the tracks sort of run together, as it just makes for a more cohesive trip of sound. If you're into the light, mid-tempo electronic, or wished your ambient music had just a bit more kick to it, this is definitely worth checking out.
Rating: 7
