Back when I was mild-mannered music reviewer for a mid-sized metropolitan daily newspaper, I once took some flack for calling Joel Plaskett the Kim Mitchell for a new generation. I guess my love and admiration for Kim Mitchell wasn't then well-known enough for this to be recognized as a compliment. Now it can be revealed: I loves me some Kim Mitchell. Not quite to the same degree as my love for Andy Kim, but that's a horse of a different colour, anyhow. So here (at the bottom of this post) is the new single from the Joel Plaskett Emergency, "Fashionable People" from the new album Ashtray Rock.
What's great about JP isn't just that he revels in the patio-lanterned sentimentality of good-time rock and pop that Kim Mitchell brought forth unto this Earth, but he's also got a soft spot for hip hop and r&b, and occasionally brings elements into his music.
The first time I noticed this was at the old Easy Alibi on Scarth St. in Regina. It was a Wednesday night show, back when I was doing the old Spo-Dee O'Dee Radio Hour on Wed. nights, and there was also a provincial election going on. I voted for JP, who was playing with the Emergency that night. It was right after (or maybe just before?) Truthfully Truthfully came out, and I had yet to really cotton to JP. Midway through a song, Plaskett busted into a verse of a then-current hip hop club anthem (whose name escapes me now) and then back into his own song like it ain't no thing.
Later, on "Nowhere With You" (which was also a Zellers ad, minus the nihilism), Plaskett borrowed the tongue clicks from "Drop It Like It's Hot".
On "Fashionable People", Plaskett goes back to the Neptunes with a synthy sounds and plenty of falsetto, all tempered with a party-prog vibe Plaskett cribbed from Trooper.
Joel Plaskett Emergency plays in Vancouver this friday.
MP3: "Fashionable People" - Joel Plaskett Emergency
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