Barry Adamson: Oedipus Schmoedipus

Not one to remain content with past glories while stagnating in a pool of ego, ex-Magazine and Bad Seeds bassist Barry Adamson has been recording atmospheric soundtrack music—most often for movies which exist solely in his head—since 1989. Continuing along the path begun with his previous release The Negro Inside Me, Oedipus Schmoedipus is a fluid mixture of lounge, jazz and funk with a certain creepy-sleazy something thrown in. Opening with a gospel choir singing, "Save me from my own hand," Oedipus travels down every back alley and into every smoky club in search of the perfect mood married to the perfect beat. The arrangements and production Adamson uses to create it are uncommon in dance or jazz, but he uses this to his advantage. On "Something Wicked This Way Comes," the straightforward and catchy groove is punctuated/interrupted by ghostly off-key vocals, flabby scratches and a lazy funk riff, making the song no less funky but all the more disconcerting. When he verges more toward the lounge/jazz side, it's a more heartfelt sound than any of the "cocktail nation" ever produced. Simply put, Adamson is doing something innovative and exciting with music, bringing together so many genres that he's well on the verge of creating one of his own.