|
Critically
acclaimed as one of the most creative, imaginative
and talented guitarists on the planet and
always at the forefront of technology Jennifer
Batten returns for her third solo
album in the captivating sonic tapestry
of “Whatever”.
Released as a dual pack of CD & DVD
the album is described in style by Jennifer
herself as “guitronica”. The
album possesses plenty of guitar, but “Whatever”
is heavily multi textured with a plethora
of sounds and vocal samples, and has a humorous
thread throughout. The music is also influenced
by various ethnic cultures such as the African
vibe in "Off the Deep End".
On
the albums creation Jennifer comments, “Originally
I started writing a lot of these tracks
for Jeff Beck when I was in his band. My
third CD has been long over due so in the
end I'm happy to have these tracks for myself!
He got me interested in electronica and
I'm very happy to have that as a new direction
with all the amazing inspiring sounds available
today.”
The
included DVD breaks down each video track
with a commentary track by Jennifer which
has formed the brief synopsis of each track
below. Jennifer descrives the album as "'sort
of' instrumental. There are vocal samples
telling stories in most songs, but not the
standard song type lyrics and melodies.
I played and programmed most of the CD with
the exception of having a few guests."
"Ass
Whoopin'" is a hip hop track
featuring the other guitarist (Jon Clark)
on Michael Jackson's Bad Tour, using a comedic
spoken word character that he often used
in 1988 during the tour I was on with him.
He tells a story of the frustrations of
buying electronics in the modern age. For
the second solo I trigger an organ sound
with the guitar synth which came out very
jazz flavoured just due to the sound I used.
The melody is very bendy and snakey.
"Ricochet"
is an experimental soundscape starting with
distorted drums and a multitude of guitar
sounds, techniques, and textures. It's a
quirky love song.
"Off
the Deep End" is a very African
influenced flavor with a vocal chant from
a tribe of little kids in the intro. It's
a mix of tribal groove and dreamy breathy
synth with Andre Berry's "Jaco-esque"
bass feel. The breakdown goes into a story
spoken by Debbie Schepp (I'm a sucker for
the British accent). I purposely left the
story a little vague so the listener could
imagine any of a variety of situations that
she was describing.
"Whatever"
brings the record back to Los Angeles and
gives a pathetic tribute to the cultural
degradation in the language of the modern
youth. They use the word "whatever"
to replace most words in the language, due
to laziness. The song makes use of various
samples of people and accents saying "whatever".
The focus is on total nonsense surrounded
by melody and a whacky guitar solo.
"Fearless"
is my first endeavour back to the acoustic
guitar after many years exclusively with
electric only. The guitar is in an odd tuning
and I have no idea what any of the notes
are. It was just written from sound, which
is very freeing.
"Hooligan's
Holiday" is a lyric-less conversation
between the guitar and the vocal riffs from
the singer. It's a sonic experiment starting
with samples of the horrible ground buzz
I was having in the studio at the time.
I decided to just use the noise and make
it musical and percussive in the intro rather
than just give up until I could get an engineer
in to fix it.!
"In
the Aftermath" is the CD's
compositional highlight for me and the first
ballad I've written. It feels like a spiritual
adventure that takes you on a sensual journey.
"Run
With It" is focused on samples
from Herman Begay, a native American singer.
It begins with native flute and also blends
instruments from East Indians as well.
"Cupid's
Arrow" is the story of my
best friend getting married while I was
on tour. I sampled his story of the wedding
after my return and used the best bits for
this love story. There are lots of quirky
sounds with a surprise ending.
"Inner
Journey" may well be the launching
pad for this record. The percussion is based
on body noise samples. This is the comedic
highlight of the CD with a whacky video
to match. Though the title "Inner Journey"
sounds like a spiritual endeavour, it's
more like the inner journey your body takes
in digestion. Most female recording artists
use body parts to promote their music, which
has been done to death, and I find that’s
quite lacking in imagination! I prefer a
more creative shocking attention grabbing
angle.
| 
