not very puzzling
It’s claimed that Medina’s sets in New York have transformed the listening experience of millions, and that he “lives, breathes and revels in sharing the type of music that makes a listener remember his soul”. But either his soul is actually forgettable, or he should have stuck to the DJing. This album isn’t going to change anyone’s life. Connecting The Dots, is Rich Medina’s fi rst musical offering since he left the DJ booth and entered the studio.
The combination of languid rapping and sinister guitar on Delirium is a promising beginning, but clichéd lyrics about drugs beginning as a game but really being very serious indeed ominously hint at the banality to come. Next is Blues Baby, which may sound like just another silky-smooth R’n’B offering, but gets extra points for comparing the world, in all its contamination, to a pigeon.
Chocklit Ninja, the instrumental that follows, sounds half- fi nished and after four and a half minutes of this we realise that this album is not, as his record label claimed, even slightly ‘rich’ in texture. Hereafter, the album settles into its unchallenging, comfortable stride, much of it soundng familiar as it’s so similar to the wave of sub-R’n’B currently proliferating the charts.
Technically profi cient as it may be, Connecting The Dots is the sound of Rich Medina doing just that, then colouring in between the lines as if he had a Paint-By- Numbers kit. You can’t deny that Rich Medina is a conscientious man. Plenty of people declare, “I want my money”. Not many, however, go on to specify, “preferably in small bills”.
Furthermore, with the effi - ciency of someone who sticks shopping lists to his fridge, Medina has made sure that everything in this record is present. There are repetitive beats and melodies and lyrics about “being there” because of the “love shared”.
Unfortunately, though, listening to his music isn’t much more exciting than I’d imagine reading one of his shopping lists would be. This record isn’t bad, it just isn’t all that good. But the girl with the neatest colouring-in always impresses the teacher, and, in the same way, I’m sure Rich Medina will do just fi ne.
2nd Feb 2006