This 1998 debut from
Goldo, a white rapper with a distinct Humpty Hump flow, almost rocks and almost does a few other things too, but it hardly ever works. The record opens strongly with three funky numbers and then slides into punk/alternative mode on the disappointing "Heaven Girl" and "Walk Away" (featuring
Goldo crew member Mushroomam). Unfortunately, the pattern of good funk to bad rock back to funk continues throughout the record, and the mixture makes for a frustrating listening experience. Plainly stated,
Goldo isn't
Beck, and while it might look easy to twist so many genres into the supreme white-boy funk of Silverlake's favorite son, this release proves that it is, in fact, supremely difficult. Musical mortals like
Goldo would do well to stick to the one thing they do well and leave the musical meandering to the infinitesimally small number of artists with the talent to make their way through the treacherous topography of hyper-eclectic rock. When
Goldo and company drop a reggae beat at the end of "Assoline" before ripping into some noisy art rock deconstruction that leads into the wretched country/folk/pop of "Trip Too Hard," the cause is officially lost. All this Immortal release needed was a producer with the skills to focus
Goldo's many talents in a single (funky) direction. ~ Vincent Jeffries