Word: bionix
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September 2001: De La Soul releases a remastered version of their debut album, 3 Feet High and Rising. December 2001: De La Soul releases AOI: Bionix, the second in their Art Official Intelligence Trilogy, an ambitious project encompassing the production of three albums in three years. The timing seems to promote a comparison between the two albums. But I’m not going to do that, because even De La Soul member Dave Jolicoeur realizes that there is no comparison: “3 Feet High and Rising was the greatest thing we’ve ever done because...
...released five albums: 3 Feet High and Rising (1989), De La Soul is Dead (1991), Buhloone Mindstate (1993), Stakes is High (1996) and Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump (2000). Their style has obviously evolved a great deal, but the constant has been their instrumental experimentation, which is furthered on Bionix instruments as diverse as the French Horn, flugelhorn and flute. What is more interesting, though, is the group’s diversification of musical genres, most notably the appearance of Cuban traditional singer Jose “Periquo” Hernandez on “Watch Out?...
...commercial success gave them the springboard to introduce a much wider audience to De La Soul’s characteristic brand of hip-hop. That’s what they were doing with the re-release of 3 Feet High, and it is continued, to an extent, on Bionix. Whereas Mosaic Thump was geared towards atmospheric beats and creating a party vibe, Bionix is much more lyrically focused, much more a return to the intensity of communication that sets albums like 3 Feet High apart...
...album also has its own voice, though. It’s a “better, stronger, faster” De La Soul, a characterization of Bionix that we are given in the intro as well as the chorus for the title track. The album feels very solid as a unit, unified by the recurrence of the chorus from the final track, “Trying People,” throughout the CD, and of course by the skits...
...real highlights come when the group relaxes into its songs, incorporating all the lush instrumentation and female vocals of the choruses, and has fun with their music. You can feel this on “Simply,” on the title track, “Bionix,” and on “What we Do (for Love).” All three are songs of the highest caliber, well-produced and with a lasting appeal...
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