|
Ari
Gold ; "Transport Systems" CD Review By Jed Ryan A performer since childhood, Ari Gold indeed knows his own unique celebrity status. He mirthfully calls himself a "homofessional gaylebrity". As one of the busiest and most visible young gay artists on the music scene today, many culture vultures choose to focus on that unique celebrity status, especially his looks, rather than the albums he creates. But behind the |
man, there's the music. And Ari Gold's music is making history.
MTV may not have been ready for an artist who has been out since the beginning
of his career-- as well as one who is out and proud in his artistry every
day-- when Ari's video "Wave of You" first made the rounds a
few years ago. But when Gold's video for "Love Will Take
Over" recently bumped Madonna out of the #1 spot on LOGO's video show, we
all knew a revolution was in progress. (That video, incidentally, stayed in
the Top 10 for over 21 weeks.) More history is destined to be made with
"Transport Systems", Ari Gold's flawlessly produced third
full-length album. "Transport Systems" opens with bubbly
rhythms and sharp grooves, as well as Gold's friend and equally soulful fellow out
musician Adam Joseph harmonizing with Ari as the duo sing, "Feels like
gold... solid gold!" What happens next? To quote Ari himself,
"Now, let's get down to the real shit":
First, there's all the technological
tricks that Ari's got under his size 30 belt. As Gold sings
throughout "Transport Systems", electronic comets and digital UFO's
combine with old school grooves and retro rhythms. Then, there's the
voice. Ari often layers his patently soulful singing vox with spoken
word, which is just as impressive. Whether Gold is crooning
soulfully, using the vocoder, or incorporating a more distant vocal style for
some of the album's intense dance tracks, it all comes together for
"Transport Systems". "Transport Me", the
first track, builds up in its intensity as it progresses-- the equivalent
of a frenetic trip through a time warp-- until it reaches its climax. It's
in this track that Gold conveys the message of his album as a whole:
"Transport me to another place, to another time..." Indeed,
here's an artist who knows about the power of transcendence through music.
The second track, "Ride to Heaven", is one of the album's
highlights: sort of like a funked-up version of Pebbles' 1988 hit
"Mercedes Boy", with a man-to-man twist and some deliciously dirty
double entendres ("Show me your big stick shift; I'd like to take a test
drive!..."). If there's a sexier song about "auto-erotica"
out there, I have yet to hear it. Check out these lyrics: "If you're
driving a Ferrari, then it's gotta be for Ari; If you're driving a
Mercedes, it's not only for the ladies; And if it's in an old school Cadillac,
you know I like it like that (right here in the back!)" The wild ride
continues with "Where the Music Takes You", another track that sounds
like it's on musical steroids, complete with "bringin' down da house"
vocals by diva Sasha Allen. This is intense stuff! Indeed, "Where
the Music Takes You" does feel like it transcends across the decades:
it borrows a great deal of the freestyle sounds of the '80's, touches upon
the cool distant sounds of '90's house, and ushers us into the renegade,
"no rules" philosophy of the music scene in 2007. With
the fourth track, "Play It Back", Gold's vocals become a bit
clearer in focus for the first time on the album, without sacrificing any of the
hi-tech stuff. In something that may be a rebuff to critics
who believe that feel-good dance/pop music can't have a
"message", Gold next brings us the provocative "Mr.
Mistress". The song is about the phenomenon of straight men on
the "down low": guys with wives or girlfriends who secretly fool
around with men ("I won't be your Mr. Mistress, I won't be your man on the
side; What you gonna tell your wife and children, That you creep on the down low
and you've been telling them lies..."). Bold theme aside,
"Mr. Mistress"-- with its infectious rhythm and heavy beats-- is
another one of the album's standout tracks. An absolute stunner of a song
comes with Gold's reworking of the Human League's mega-hit "Human".
Even though this track conquered the charts in 1986, the message behind the
song couldn't be more timely in 2007 and beyond. "Human"
opens with a violin intro, and a rap intro and interlude by Mr. Man,
but those are only two of the surprises in Gold's superb reinterpretation.
"Good Relationship (That's What It Is)" uses retro-flavored accents
for a song about the bona fide joy of man-to-man love. The flip side
of joy comes next with "Feeding the Fire", a somber-sounding track
which explores the darker side of nightlife; someone only needs to listen to the dead-on
lyrics to know that the song is about guys who, shall we say, "party"
too much. "Soul Killer" is a real musical curio, a pounding
rock track with some heavy beats and some mega-confrontational lyrics; it's
unlike anything we've heard from Ari before, even though Gold's unique persona
(and "bad boy" rots?) does come through. Listening to the
hard-hitting track, you can envision Ari throwing his fist towards an audience
of rough outer-borough boyz and girlz while shouting, "Soul...
killer!... Dream... breaker! Soul... killer!
Truth...faker!" (I for one am dying to know who this song
was, ahem, "written for"...) Almost as if to offer a
cool-down session, Gold gives us the rather touching and tender
"Moment of Forgiveness". "Transport Systems"
concludes with the mid-tempo "Love Wasn't Built in a Day".
"Transport Systems" is guaranteed to
delight, to excite, to titillate, and to get you movin'. But underneath
all the great sounds, there's intense soul, insight and inspiration. And,
an astute listener doesn't have to read too deeply between the lyrics to realize
that a love, pride (in yourself and in the community), and equality are
recurrent themes. The crown prince of out 'n' proud queer music has
come a long way. With Ari Gold's new album, get ready to be transported--
in more ways than one.
Jed Ryan
PM Entertainment Magazine
For all information about Ari Gold check out Ari's
website.
Return to Levi's Wing entrance.
Return to GLBT Artists
The only GLBT Music ranking Chart Online Since 1996! Support GLBT Music vote for your favorite GLBT
Artists.
StoneWall Society Network Member!
Receive our FREE monthly newsletter |
Equal Pride |
StoneWall Society free web-based email, 6megs of space. |
Site Map
Site opened 10/31/99
StoneWall Society 10/99 - 2012