Press & Reviews

December 1998
Block
Timing Is Everything
Java/Capitol Records

Jaimie Block and Co. are back, this time with some major label support, to try to take the Urban Folk Prophet crown away from Beck. Coupling jagged social commentary with a quick wit, an acoustic guitar, a sampling machine and a coupla synths to boot, Block is well on his way to achieving just that. Timing is Everything is a little more straight-ahead and less experimental than his last album, but it still shows Block trodding the unbeaten path. Taking two extremes of the spectrum, bare-bones acoustic folk and futuristic ambient-techno, Block is, if nothing else, original. Though I don’t think this disc is as good as his last independent release, he does seem to have toned down his experimentation a bit and he seems to be going after a sound closer to that of that other Urban Folk Prophet, Beck, in some places, Block still offers something different from the norm and a refreshing change from most of what’s on eMpTyVee and radio these days. There seems to be more of a separation between his folkier stuff and his more techno stuff, and there’s more electric guitars here than I remember hearing on the last disc. But, if nothing else, you should get this CD for the song "I Used To Manage PM Dawn." Trust me. And, to top that, it comes with a free cigarette in the spine and you know with the way cigarette prices are skyrocketing it won’t be long before you’ll be cracking this bad boy open and enjoying a Block Special.

Eric Walls