Album Review : Josh One - Narrow Path (Silverline)

Writer: Oliver Scott

All rather intriguing, this album. And the music is perhaps the least interesting thing about it... I can’t say I knew too much about Josh One before this album came my way, even though I do remember liking the King Britt remix of his single Contemplation a couple of years ago.

But anyway, while he definitely seems to be coming from a hip hop background, his new album Narrow Path suggests that he – like many a DJ before him – has embraced live music as a way of expanding creatively once the limitations of black bits of plastic become frustrating. So far, so getting a tiny bit bored, but the interesting thing about this little number is that Narrow Path has proudly come out on a CD/DVD-Audio Dual Disc. This didn’t mean much to me at first, but much head-scratching led me to work out that one side is the album on CD and the other side is a DVD-Audio disc, which contains 5.1 surround sound mixes of the entire album, plus visuals and videos and other stuff too.

Quite simply, the idea is that instead of using your stereo, you listen to the album on your DVD player through your television, which apparently enhances the sound considerably. And, as the songs play, there are visuals for each one, some of which are modestly animated, and some which are just moody photographs. I find this concept of sound and vision rather intriguing – I remember watching years ago old video tapes of weird fractal graphics combined with pumping house music, designed for 'coming down' – and this process certainly enhances the music, which without the visuals is broadly speaking acid jazz with a distinct electronic twist. And of course, if I now listen to the CD without the visual element, I automatically create the image in my mind while hearing it. Strange, insidious and perhaps slightly sinister.

Also on the DVD is a short film showing Plus One in the studio, in the record shop and just hanging out on the street, plus all manner of internet options where you can access photos, lyrics, relevant websites, new release schedules and so on. Amazing! I'm wondering that if a whole new generation of consumers brought up on DVDs would be baffled by a film without a director's commentary, deleted scenes and so on, they might also be shocked by a CD which just played music? I suppose it also would help with CD piracy and downloading - make 'the content' with an album more attractive, and people might be more likely to buy it rather than copy it off a pal.

The company releasing this particular CD/DVD-Audio – 5.1 Entertainment Group – have apparently worked with the likes of Britney Spears, R. Kelly, Usher, Janet Jackson, Eminem and Herbie Hancock, so I suspect we'll be seeing much more of their work in the future. As for Plus One, hats off to him for getting behind this technology and doing something interesting with it, but I think his next move will have to take him to a place where his musical input matches or exceeds the limits of the medium.

RELATED LINKS:

Buy Josh One' Narrow Path album at Amazon UK (CD)  | US (CD).



PUBLISHED: 6 February 2005

RELEASED DATE: 25 October 2004 (UK) | 2 November 2004 (US)

More Reviews