There's something really strange about Jimi Tenor that it's hard to put a finger on. He performs his songs completely straight-faced, like he's as serious about his work as Sting is about saving whales. But the songs, while always intriguing and listenable, are just too damned weird for there not to be some tongue- in- cheek value intended.
Organism was released earlier this year on the revered electronic label Warp Records, home to such forward-thinking auteurs as Squarepusher, Aphex Twin, Autechre, Boards of Canada, and Two Lone Swordsmen. And as different as this album is from the rest of Warp's roster, it somehow belongs-- like Neil Hamburger on Drag City, Guided By Voices on TVT, or gospel diva Thornetta Davis on Sub Pop.
Tenor's bizarre blend of earnest, Barry White-style '70s soul, Prince funk circa Dirty Mind, ultramodern electronic flourishes, and geeky, Jarvis Cocker delivery is truly disturbing. Is he serious or just bein' goofy? It's impossible to know. But when the skinny, thick- rimmed- glasses- wearin' Warhol lookalike lustfully whispers "I wanna be the taxi driver who takes you home tonight/ I wanna be every customer in the diner where you work," before belting out "'Cause I wanna work to make you love me," his computer nerd image comes off as simultaneously sexy and Triple X sleazy.
Tenor is at his most charming on Organism's slinky soul tracks, especially "Love and Work" and "Sleep" which both draw heavily from modern ghetto R&B; beats and jazz flute solos from late '60s Quincy Jones records. But Tenor's act is far from gimmicky. The leadoff track, "Total Devestation" and "Year of Apocalypse" are thunderous, bass-heavy house anthems, while "Xinotepe Heat" sounds like a cross between Alice Coltrane's Journey in Satchidananda, Jan Hammer's "Theme from 'Miami Vice'" and the soundtrack to the second level of "Sonic the Hedgehog 2."
The album's two low points come with the grading "Muchmo," a song that features a sterile, programmed electronic beat and a vocoder-enhanced voice-- presumably Tenor's-- endlessly repeating the words "Much more psychedelic/ Than any of the drugs," and "Serious Love," whose mind- numbing repetition of the phrase "Give me something good that'll feed my soul/ 'Cause you need some serious love to stay happy" is a little irritating. Luckily, these songs are spaced far enough apart on the disc that they don't really interfere much with the overall quality of the record. Besides, the brilliant "My Mind," with its sultry sax solo and Talking Heads-influenced background chorus, and the dark futurism of the album's closing number, "City Sleeps," are perhaps some of the most innovative and original in the entire Warp catalog.
Organism would be an awesome listen on a rainy Spring night in Tokyo or while cruising Main Street in downtown Anoka, Minnesota on any given August night in 1983. Whatever the case, its magic cannot be truly appreciated while the sun's up. Reserve for New Year's Eve Party, 2000.
