Igloo Cartel
Rating: 9/10
Just when I was banging my head against the wall in frustration, a Vancouver-based trio sent me an advance copy of the finest instrumental hip-hop pedigree I've come across this year. I immediately thought to myself: Finally, a record that is like a cinemascope, discharging sonic luminaries like we were all starring in a remake of Chaplin’s Modern Times. But then the first track, "Triad Zone," languidly worn out in its low-cholesterol abrasiveness, was more typical of a film noir. It’s even better, I recall salivating to my inner self. (Actually, "Triad Zone" had already made it to WFMU host Noah Zark’s podcast Coffee 2 Go earlier this year, so it wasn't completely unrecognizable.)
Prosperity is an urban fairytale, inebriated with oriental fumes. In fact, as the press release puts it, this is the second chapter of a trilogy of recordings, inspired by the Chinese deities symbolizing luck and good fortune. The first was
Happiness and it was released in September 2003. Could they be more conceptual? Yes, they could... and they are. Going through No Luck Club’s latest effort is like reading a book, divided in four chapters, here eloquently called "suites": the Cinematic Suite, the Uptempo Suite, the Introspective Suite, and the Nada Suite.
Founded in 2000 by the Chan Brothers (Matt, the turntablist, and Trevor, the laptop samplist), No Luck Club claimed the attention of Dan the Automator’s 75Ark Records when the group issued their mix CD and demo,
Newfangled Moments. They signed a contract with the label but, when
Happiness was already in the stove, 75Ark went kaput. A revised version of the album would be released by Ill Boogie Records two years later, and Vancouver DJ champion Paul Belen (a.k.a. Pluskratch) would join the Club in late 2004. With the addition of Pluskratch the brotherhood of the ring was complete, so to speak.
Imagine an art gallery comprised of four rooms, each devoted to a specific musical mood. Each hosting three alphanumerical combinations you have to decipher so that you can unlock three different safes, and move on to the next suite. I think this is a nice way to describe the mental maze that
Prosperity induces. But there’s more to it. The eclecticism is its watermark, from vacant electronics ("Corporate Spy Hunter") to piano-driven, dub incursions like "OMD (Orchestral Maneuvers in Dub)," and from the scratching, fatso delivery of "Rock n’ Roll Monster on Sunset" to the tropicalia, jazz-funk intersection on the Portuguese/Brazilian-titled "Mais Ritmo no Carnaval" – which translates as "more rhythm in Carnival".
And, of course, there’s even room for politicized, mind-numbing numbers like "Our Story," which speaks up about the difficulties in Sino-Canadian relations, and features racist samples like "we don’t want China men in Canada, this is a white men’s country and white men will keep it so," and "the people of Canada do not wish to make a fundamental alteration in the character of our population". No Luck Club are not afraid of pouring salt in someone’s wounds.
As far as musical spectres are concerned, No Luck Club could not be among better people. They have shared the stage with the likes of Buck 65, the pope of grainy, tedium-fuelled hip hop, M.I.A., the girl with "revolution" as her middle name, the mighty Jurassic Five, DJ A-Trak, DJ Z-Trip, among others. "Oh my god that’s the funky shit!"
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