CD OF THE WEEK (July 1999) :

JMX "AUTONOME"
(VIAKRA, VIA Records 1999, 6916012)

My opinion

JMX is the private playpen of guitarplayer/producer Jean-Marie Aerts with DJ DNA aka Donatask, best known from his work with dutch band Urban Dance Squad. Around these two there's a whole bunch of musicians such as Hans Helewaut (from Elisa Waut), Angélique Wilkie (from the first version of Zap Mama), Patrick Bylebyl & Philippe Comte (from the french reggae-band Babylon Fighters), Filip Casteels (of El Fish) and also the inevitable Patrick Riguelle.
Yep.
One these two hour-long loop & guitarfest there's only one pop song : "I Know", in which JMX reveals himself as a funky re-issue of the late great Serge Gainsbourg (God rest his soul). The rest is world music, dub, rock, beats, blues, rap, funk, trance, reggae and about four hundred other styles - all at once. Music without boundaries. Too often though, the songs start off on a cool loop, bassline, riff or sample, but end up stranded in repetitivity or lack of progression somewhere in the middle (eg. Yep, Hawaiian Dub, Loopeli ...). Almost nowhere JMX manages to convince me of the necessity of his choices, at no point the music sounds like "this is how it was supposed to be". Something that brought me to the surprising conclusion that this cd needed a producer.
So it's a nope.
Perhaps an EP with the tracks "Muslim", "I Know", "Fiesta" (with a dubble drum-part) and "Pecos" would have made up for another bright EP.
What makes this "Autonome" into an interesting purchase is the fact that there's a free bonus cd with it, containing 7 songs from the earlier released maxi's "1","2" and "3" (vinyl-only).
Yep.

And your opinion?
Did I get it all wrong, or was I spot-on ? Do you want to share your opinion about this cd ? Send it in, and I'll put it up here !

This album in the press:

- Svs in Rif-Raf : "Jean-Maries experiments sometimes remind me of Bill Lasswels urge for renewal on his Axim label. ... Still, a lot of track lack that drive, power or spark that Lasswel manages to get from his guests. Be as it may : JMX is a noble, refreshing project. JMX grooves"
- Jempi Samyn in Stage "For the price of just one cd you'll get almost two whole hours of elektro-funk-r&b-rock, as only JMX manages to produce it. Catchy beats & loops, strange pulses and noises, funky guitar-riffs : all these are ingredients in the strange brew this alchemist of underground musical works is serving us.".
- Weekend Knack "Unparralleled cross-over that at times seems kind of wacky but focusses suprisingly the next moment. Jean-Marie Aerts - he was well ahead of his time already in the days of TC Matic - maintains his reputation of being an innovator."
- Dirk Steenhaut in Café des Arts - de Morgen "JMX links frivolity to abstraction, doubts between exitement and relaxation, and then ends up choosing a direction nobody thought of. Not everything is brilliant - but in comparison to the CD of Gohimo - most of the same musicians where involved in that project - this is much easier to listen to".

Did you see a good (or bad) review of this album ? Tell me about it !

More about this band :

- More on Jean-Marie Aerts can be found on a number of pages in the archive, such as those on TC Matic, Big Bill, Raymond van het Groenewoud, Arno etc etc ....
- Bookings : none (JMX is a studio-only project)
- contact : ?? (perhaps through the record company VIA records)

Where to buy this CD ?

You can order this CD from a number of locations (prices researched on July 7, 1999, but nothing guarantees they still are the same when you read this).

Shop	Price of the CD	Shipping + other expenses	Total	Direct Link
Frontstage	678	50	728 fr.	Frontstage
Azur	753	0	753 fr.
HVH-Megastore		54
Proxis	665	95	760 fr.	Proxis

The lowest price is in yellow, the highest in red. This price comparison doesn't take things into account like deduction of shipping expenses when ordering more than 1 cd, bonus points, differences in guarantees ... Shipping prices are those for customers in Belgium.

Have you seen this record elsewhere on the net, do you own an online-CD-shop with Belgian products in it, or if there's something wrong with my calculations : let me know.

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