Search - Lovage :: Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By

The killer album of the year..........

Matthew Ostman | Dallas, Texas United States | 12/20/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Buy this album now. Do not hesitate. Definitely one of the best albums released this year. The Automator proves once again he is a musical pioneer putting together such a genius group of musicians for this album. Mike Patton can sing anything and sound good and proves it on every song he appears on. He has so much vocal range and uses every bit of it. His duets with Jennifer Charles are beautiful, seductive and very raunchy and their voices work so well with each other. Kid Koala lays down some phat samples mixing jazz, funk and just straight chill grooves and beats like a pro. This is the future of music ladies and gentlemen and these guys are at the forefront so pay attention. Everything that Dan The Automator and Mike Patton come out with are brilliant, in their own respective "genres" of music, and they both come together like a puzzle. I just can't say enough good things about it."

The most adventurous album of the year...

eightpointagenda | Chicago, IL | 01/22/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"..and quite possibly the most bizarre one at that. It should be known that any project that Dan The Automator has his hands on will be more than auditory pleasure, but also an adventure as well. Never settling for less, Dan always pushes his creativity to the limit. Lovage is the perfect exibition of this plain and simple fact.A brilliant mix of trip-hop and lounge music, Lovage presents 15 tracks that attempt to create a very relaxed and yet very moving experience. All while trying to keep his joke running. The results are mixed but I still have to aploud his effort for something this creative. Especially in a year when so much comercial [stuff] slipped through the cracks onto mainstream radio. Musically, it stays within its set bounds but always remains adventurous, never presenting you with the same beats, samples, and vocals, which keeps the listening experience fresh. Speaking of vocals, it should be said that the vocals are the stand out here on the album. Between Mike Patton's overly dramatic stylings and Jennifer Charles soothing chill, the interplay between the two is downright perfect for this type of record.The problem with this record is that not all of it is as compelling as the rest of it. But the fact that Dan Nakamura is still willing to challenge popular music and hip-hop shows that some people still care about artistic integrity. Plus there is some good stuff on the album too. Which makes it all worth while. Try it when everything else seems to have gone stale. Its its like taking a bite out of a fresh loaf."

Bizarre, but just dive in and you'll love it.

John Craig | 12/18/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"On this recording, Nakamura combines his hip-hop sensabilities with a lush-jazz orchestration that sounds like something out of Burt Bacharach or Serge Gainsbourg. Jennifer Charles' sexy sigh of a voice is the perfect complement for this sort of thing: she invests the songs with an over-the-top sensuality which is by turns hilarious and alluring. Mike Patton does a great job too- the Mr. Bungle frontman wisely restrains his voice to a seductive whisper on most of the tracks, and if he occasionally digs in and reminds the audience of his past experience (notably on 'Pit Stop'), that only adds to the music's superb sense of irony. Did I mention irony? The head over heels lushness of the music aside, there are bizarre sketches strewn throughout the album: excersises in sound collage which feature "well known sexperts" (to quote the liner notes) appearing to rant incoherently about socks or shilling for nonexistant cocktail mixers. What makes this recording a must-have, to my mind, is that despite the dripping irony the music is always catchy, often touching and sometimes downright compelling. Another reviewer questioned whether this album was a joke or not- a fair question. I think the stellar musicians involved with the project from top to bottom decided to have it both ways, and succeeded remarkably well."