73 Touches

Hocus Pocus – 73 Touches (On and On)
Reviewed by Sadie O., 8/26/06
Very smooth jazzy hip hop from France. Mostly a bit downtempo and relaxed, none of the urban anger generally associated with hip hop. At least it’s got more interesting structure (and often very interesting layering of samples) than a lot of French Hip Hop, but most of it is just too mellow and smooth for my tastes. See what you think…
FCC possibilities – I’m pretty sure track one is a definite but I’m still not sure about track 12, which apart from the iffy possible “bullshit” is the best track. Other than that I like tracks 5 and 9.
1. FCC. **a bit downtempo, relaxed. Interesting mixing of samples. I’m pretty sure someone says “Shit” right outa nowhere at 1:58. Pity.
2. *starts with street sounds and random musical sounds for first 20 seconds or so. Smooth, relaxed groove with flute.
3. **Also smooth, midtempo, sung chorus. A bit more energy than previous track.
4. *acoustic guitar, two voices – little else. Sweet and pretty.
5. ***cool samba groove with handdrums and samples. Instrumental for first minute and a half.
6. very smooth, downtempo and relaxed. Love song – makes me feel smothered in sugar syrup.
7. *starts with random talking and bloops. Turns into decent relaxed groove.
8. **great interlude with drums and sample of “Abba Dabba Honeymoon”…
9. ***nice swingy midtempo beat with a fair amount of energy. Definitely a fun song.
10. starts with talking (sounds like a space flight launch), then very smooth downtempo relaxed groove. Fades out at about one minute, comes back after a couple of seconds. Interesting bunch of samples about war. LONG fade.
11. **starts with filing noises… Guess what? Slightly downtempo smooth jazz groove. Then it changes into uptempo bounce, which is a lot better. Then talking and an even BETTER groove. Then talking and a supper club jazz groove. Which isn’t bad either, but I wish they’d picked one of the good grooves and stuck to it.
12. FCC? ***vocalizations and clapping, funky midtempo bounce. Naturally, it sounds like someone says “bullshit” at 50 seconds – I can’t tell for absolute sure. Sucks, because this is far and away the best cut. Much in English.
13. smooth jazz with piano, upright bass and horns. Some nice choices of samples.