Posted on 09/18/2009
It’s always a bad sign when a press release spends most of the time listing the artist’s past glories (especially when most of the original DJ Food collective are long departed) before summarily asking, “So what about the music?” and brusquely giving a release schedule in response. So, what about the music then? Well, it’s a bit average. Six vaguely jazz/hip hop flavoured tracks of which little sticks in the memory, besides some of their interminable length.

We begin with “The Illectrik Hoax,” a horrific rock song that, for fans of mediocre English bands, is reminiscent of a Kasabian/Kula Shaker mash up. It’s horrible. The only mercy is that it’s over relatively quickly at just under four minutes. Just as you’re recovering from that mauling, there’s an abrupt mood change into “Extract from Stolen Moments.” Thunder sets the tone for a dark, moody piece where B movie vocal samples ponder the bleak future for mankind over vaguely spooky piano lines. Like almost every song here, it’s a nice idea that’s simply drawn out too long.

“All Covered In Darkness” picks up the rock vocal motif of the opening number, runs with the B movie samples, throws in some fast drums and somehow manages to last seven minutes without giving you anything to snap or even nod your head to. “A Trick of the Ear” finally rewards the listener’s persistence with some darker, jazzier stylings, a nice bass hook and some interesting percussion.

For the first time DJ Food, or Strictly Kev (for it is he) has created a mood and groove that’s worth staying in. Sadly the effect is diluted slightly by its gargantuan length. DJ Food obviously doesn’t believe that you can have enough of a good thing, as not only does he drag the track out for 13 minutes, but remixes it for the final number “Tricky Little Ears (The Cheech Wizard Pays Respect To All Living Creatures Who Inhabit Dark Places)”. Apparently even song titles aren’t immune from extreme elongation.

By this point, it will probably come as no surprise that the best track on the EP is the shortest. “Colours Beyond Colours” is a rather beautiful flute and piano laden interlude (at least in the context of this record) that suggests that the forthcoming parts in this trio of EPs might be worth listening to if DJ Food can discover some focus and simply cut the crap. But for now, One Man’s Weird is Another Man’s World is simply too long and too dull to deserve your interest.

- Will Georgi