MC 900 Ft. Jesus - One Step Ahead Of The Spider

Year: 1994
Genre: Alt. Jazz

Highlight Tracks: "New Moon", "But If You Go", "Buried at Sea"
Weak Tracks: "Tiptoe Through The Inferno"

Sounding like a jazz club poetry reading at the end of the world One Step Ahead Of The Spider feels ground-breaking in retrospect of the trip-hop movement. At the time it came out though it felt just plain weird. Swinging on the pendulum between individual apocaplyptic oracle and slacker idiocy MC's lyrics and attitude make for one very interesting ride

MC 900 Ft. Jesus has a dark yet playful vocal delivery that gives the impression that he is a mischeivous god toying with the lives of his album's protagonists. From its opening rain sound effects you can already tell that it will end badly for the speed-obsessed woman in the epic first track "New Moon". Her tale of twilight car crash is set to an ultra-cool jazz jam that sets the tone for most of the album. However for all the dark numbers MC tries to right the ship by turning out playful tunes like "If I Only Had a Brain" which unfortunately came to be the public face of this fascinating album. That single's whimsy while entertaining doesn't properly represent the level of artistry on display here.

One Step Ahead Of The Spider is an interesting mix of live jazz, simple keyboard playing, and basic electronic elements. The music feels minimal here but its simplicity is deceptive as each song's subdued repetitiveness propels you forward. It's a very chill album that would be great to listen to when barbequing at sunset or sitting on the front stoop drinking beer from a brown paper-bag. This effortlessly cool album deserves to be listened to a lot more frequently.