What happens when a talented musician decides to make a 3rd album? Usually you get mixed results but why is this different?

Moss – Corporation Pop (Pork 101)

Chillout/Downtempo/Ambient Album of the Month for July 2004

Moss is an alias of a Manchester based artist named Bernard Moss. He is different from most musicians because most musicians today are not trained to play any instrument and use electronically created sounds but Moss plays the flute and the saxophone, which gives you extra respect. He has appeared on Pork’s 100th release, with this track “Chingy”, that track is on this album as well and he has also appeared on Mr.Scruff’s Trouser Jazz album. This is Moss’s 3rd album on Pork Recordings; his previous albums were called “Stone Soup” in 2001 and “East Coast Chip Shop” in 1999. So it comes as no surprise that he released his 3rd album on the UK’s finest downtempo label, Pork Recordings.

Tracklist

1.Long Way from Nowhere
2.The Bonze
3.Wintergreen
4.New Augur
5.Ching
6.Simplicity
7.My Chimera
8.Illuminate
9.Pot Pixie
10.June as November

Long Way from Nowhere

This starts off the CD and gives you a taste of what direction the CD is heading. This is a very relaxed track, which uses guitar and drums to make up the main drive of it. The main drive is then surrounded by a calm vocal near the middle that simply sings “Long way from nowhere”. The track here is how downtempo is supposed to be, laidback and the music just takes you away. The vocal here is used sparingly and it is not overused or underused, just right in my estimation. The song is a little long here but the track works very well and it is a solid start.

The Bonze

As track one was lighter downtempo, track two takes a harder edge starting with heavy slow drums and the beautiful melody comes in. Organ style sounds then follow with an acid jazz feel and then a guitar riff then takes over, it comes in and out at various points. “The Bonze” builds the CD and you get the idea that you are headed in an downtempo/acid jazz influenced direction.

Wintergreen

Track number three shows a more layered, expansive feel, which is quite different from the first two tracks. Bernard Moss seems to make excellent use of what seems to be in all his works, guitar driven riffs and well-designed drumlines. You hear what sounds like a saxophone in the background; it never comes completely to the forefront here. We have another musical journey. The only drawback to this song is that the song is maybe a bit too long.

New Augur

For all the people who are wondering “What is an augur?” I asked myself the same question and the dictionary says that it means to foreshadow an omen, I’m not sure what that has to do with the track. “New Augur” uses some weird voice samples, which sound like a Jamaican man talking but it is near the middle, so you don’t quite hear it clearly. Some well thought out snares and drums add to the song here. A nice flute melody adds to the track and I think it makes it more original and more unique.

Ching

This song is new to some but maybe familiar to those who purchased Pork’s 100 release, celebrating the milestone of 100 releases. A friend of mine argues that this is more acid jazz but I tend to think that this is more jazzy downtempo. Here we pick up on the fact that Moss is using rattles and drums to slowly build this track. The melody is encompassing but the thing that makes it work is that the track is effective and well planned. The song has what sounds like weird manmade noises that run in and out at times. The track reminds you of the early Thievery Corp in places, sort of reminds you of the promise that they had before they went boring.

Simplicity

As we approach the second half of the CD, the tracks are starting to vary more in terms of structure, no two songs sound similar on this CD, the only point that might be considered similar is that Moss uses flutes and saxophones and guitars and drums to make his tracks. This starts with heavy bass and some guitar riffs and uses a vocal sample, which is near the back of the track, so it is not completely clear. The track is rather simple in nature; I guess that is why it was named “Simplicity”. It uses a beautiful flute part in the later part of the song and you start to get that jazz feel around the middle of the track. Moss is taking you on a downtempo journey.

My Chimera

A chimera is an impossible scheme and a character in Greek mythology. Which one is Moss talking about? Your guess is as good as mine. Here we see a beautiful flute part used with the usual drums and snares, which is driven by a riff that is something that sounds similar to an organ but altered at times.

Illuminate

The third last track here is piano driven and has clapping sounds in the background. This is completely laidback, which has been the tone for the entire CD but this seems even more relaxed than the other seven. This is nice music to drift away to, it is instrument driven at times, which what sounds like a saxophone. The drums near the back change their tempo at times, which makes you focus more on them than the tune at hand. I like this track because it has uniqueness written all over it.

Pot Pixie

As we are near the end of the CD, we come to “Pot Pixie”, which for you that are keeping score at home, is the second last song on this album. Here Moss gives you a deeper take on downtempo, the track has more power to it in various ways. The drums seem to be harder and more upfront here, we have it backed by what sounds like a singer just singing notes. Moss then throws in some weird Jamaican samples, which are near the back. This is more in your face than the previous eight, the only thing that makes this song become annoying is the Jamaican samples because the song is perfectly fine on it’s own.

June as November

Now we come to the last song on Moss’s 3rd album, which has been great so far. This is a guitar driven, simplistic way to end the CD. It ends the true journey at a positive note and closes the book on this CD

Conclusion:
I think this CD is solid in every single way, it uses flutes and saxophones to build around the tracks and none of the instrument parts take away from any of the tracks; they add an extra little bit. Moss is a really talented musician and it shows with all the tracks, the only problem with the album is that two songs are too long and one song uses an annoying vocal sample but besides that, the album is solid from start to finish. Usually 3rd albums deal artists a bad hand but this is different, this is a great album and it is well planned out. Some of the songs have a more jazz influence but we still have relaxing downtempo music at it’s best with "Corporation Pop".