JUTE: a violent narcotic

Jute

a violent narcotic

© 2002 Jute/Catalyst Sounds (776098133820)

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Hypnotic beats, layers of textured guitars, rolling basslines, languid female vocals--the songs are lush soundscapes with dripping vocals. Intelligent music for the age of uncertainty.

tracks

1 Southern Exposure
2 Ephemeral
3 Rising of Reason
4 Free
5 Advent of Zero
6 Darksand
7 Clay
8 Vow
9 Invertebrate
10 Narcotic
11 Opium

notes

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This CD includes 11 songs and a video with extras on CD-Rom.
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Warm beats wrapped in sensuous melodies, draped with layers of textured samples and sultry guitar parts. Jute swirls with intensity and beauty. Members Julie Axis, Joe Axis, and Robb Shakespeare manage to weave a variety of influences and colors into a beautiful river of sound.

Altar Magazine says: Moody, deep, smokey, thick, layered, ethereal vocals. Clean but complex, smooth but intriguing with well constructed songs and rhythms that have a certain something that says... this is Jute, not one of a million other bands. The CD lives up to the "narcotic" part of it's name, it's hypnotic instrumentals and sweet, dreaminess demand more than one listen. But it's much to smooth to be violent. The music is layered in a intriguing way that made me eager to discover what each track would unfold into. There is no guessing where each song will go - each is a journey to a different place in space and time. It won't make you dance, it won't make you cry, but it can set you free to relax and let dreams fly... there isn't a flat or boring tune on this record.

Maximum Ink says: A narcotic that is VIOLENT? Could this music be the soundtrack to a high suspense high tech pop geek movie? Or perhaps it's one of the fresher breezes to blow out of Chicago lately....Miss Axis' ethereal vocals will enchant and entice you, as the subtle sultry rhythms wash over you...You will need your "Violent Narcotic" fix again and again. And again. I know. I am a Jute junkie. This is spellbinding music for your winter in oblivion. Press play. --Andrew Frey, Maximum Ink

BabySue Magazine says: Interesting Chicago band. The tunes on "a violent narcotic" sound something like a cross between Bill Laswell, The Cocteau Tewins, and Yoko Ono. Jute compositions are built around dub-like rhythms and feature spooky electronics that merge with hypnotic female vocals. While the tunes have definite parameters, the band obviously enjoys experimenting with sounds. These 11 tracks are dense and peculiar, yet they have a strangely calming effect. Wonderful stuff here, particularly when you consider the fact that the band is doing it all on their own. Bewildering and satisfying. [Excellent rating]

Splendid Ezine says: In the wake of high-profile crossovers by Massive Attack and Portishead, the word "downtempo" has lost much of its power. Jute, however, stand poised to renew the sense of sensual floating the word once carried. While the group's various musical elements are nothing new to the genre, only a handful of artists have used them this successfully. A Violent Narcotic is a rich, moving example of what the trip-hop genre can achieve. Lush, enveloping melodies are encased in rhythms that move like amber and experimental sounds that add unexpected angles to music that is all curves. In the middle of all this, the voice rises; here it's provided by Julie Axis, formerly of My Scarlet Life. Her warm, glowing vocals drip honey over the music, and her sweeping delivery mostly hints at lyrics rather than hewing concrete words. This gives the music's alluring caress an additional layer of shifting focus -- but does not diminish the role played by the rest of the band (Joe Axis and Robb Shakespeare). The music feels familiar, and warrants comparisons to some of the genre's classics, but Jute set themselves apart by incorporating a more worldly sound into their music...I've turned off the lights, turned up the volume, and repeatedly allowed Jute's sound to take me on a satisfying and electrifying journey.
--Ron Davies, Splendid eZine

reviews

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  • Alluring, Mysterious, Attractive...
    author: Mallie

    This album offers a multi-sensory experience to all. Perfect for reflecting, twilight cruising or simply decompressing.

  • Ethereal...Hypnotic...Beautiful...GET IT!!
    author: Greg Campbell

    I think all of us are on the same page. The music transports you to another level. The vocals are ethereal and haunting; the music is pulsuing and meditative at the same time. Kick back, relax, and be transported to another dimension.

  • Wow...Awesome CD...glad I bought it
    author: Tiffany

    hmmm, everybody seems to be writing all of the same things but they are all true. Very awesome ambient grooves! I havent gotten tired of it yet! Clay is the BEST song on the CD!!!

  • Very cool and edgy
    author: Peter C

    Lush, multilayered arrangement and ethereal vocals. Some track reminiscent of To Venus and Back by Tori Amos. Great disc for evenings spent alone or with someone cool. I've even taken it in the car to make my commute a little more surreal.

  • Sweet!
    author: Megan

    At first, I didn't know what to make of this CD, but let me tell you-- it grows on you. Now I'm addicted! (Get it? Narcotic? Right.) Anyway, I highly recommend this CD. It feels Massive Attack-y with a little more edge. It's fabulous.

  • I thought this CD was awesome! Very ambient cool grooves.
    author: Ami Saraiya

    I thought this CD was awesome! I really liked the ambient grooves. Great to listen to when you want to enter another more utopic dimension.

  • Jute’s has a cool techno edge with ambient vibes.
    author: Score! Music Magazine

    Jute’s has a cool techno edge with ambient vibes. Very soothing and sensual, which would make a great backdrop while gettin’ it on with your honey. They’ve been aligned with, if not compared to Cocteau Twins, Massive Attack, DJ Shadow and Curve. Eastern influences abound, so if that’s your flavor, you’ll be doing yourself a favor if you check out “A Violent Narcotic”.

  • Great!

    We need more music like this! It has a lot of massive attack influence and sound

  • Warm, haunting late night music.
    author: jason.

    I took a gamble on this one and it paid off huge. A Violent Narcotic has a great warm and open atmosphere, dreamlike vocals, and a drifting languor. Highly recommended.

  • "Seductive electronica that envelopes and challenges, teases and demands"
    author: Jennifer Layton of www.Indie-Music.com

    There is something so sacred about Jute’s music, not just in the celestial feel, but in the reaction it provokes. The skin tingles and the imagination opens doors it doesn’t usually want to touch. The ghostly, mystical tracks feel like floating in a lake at midnight, looking up at the stars. The darker sounds with erotic beats feel like dancing in a dangerous place and not ever wanting to leave. Angels and demons writhe together in this music. This band creates seductive electronica that envelopes and challenges, teases and demands. I feel like I’m part of a ceremony. At times, the percussion feels like stormclouds in the distance. The songs, led by the sighing and alluring vocals of Julie Axis, move from chanting, rhythmic and tribal to smoothly sensual and hypnotic. Background spirits call to one another. The heart skips a beat with the occasionally, unexpected jolts of gothic hip-hop. Some of the melodies have a Middle Eastern flavor. Enter this world. The spirits will bite sometimes, but you will want them to.

  • "eerieness and spookiness to the CD...enjoyable qualities"
    author: Dennis Halsey of BestFemaleMusicians.com

    As I read the press kit hype for Jute's debut CD, 'a violent narcotic,' I was expecting miracles, and Jute did not fall short of delivering. Their music is a front runner in what could be an emerging genre that I chose to list as Ethereal Voices for this site's purposes. They run around many different influences like dance, rock, club, and gothic blending them into a ball that is quite ambient. The CD creates a mood and an atmosphere that it is enjoyable to be welcomed into, even if only for a short while. At times the vocals remind me of Julee Cruise. And that always reminds me of David Lynch. This is the type of music you could easily find backing a David Lynch movie. There is an eerieness and spookiness to the CD, but these are enjoyable qualities. The music almost transports you to another place for awhile, kind of like a violent narcotic! without the violence. Jute is Julie Axis on vocals and flute, Joe Axis on guitar, bass, piano, vocals, and programming, Robb Shakespeare on guitar, piano, and programming, and Michael Dobkowski on bass. Jute hail from Chicago but, with music like this, will soon be known far and wide. I highly recommend giving this Cd a listen to anyone who is interested in this type of music, it promises not to disappoint.

  • violent narcotic is a great cd!!! track #9 is the best! rock on
    author: sharronda

    The violent narcotic by JUTE is an overall well put together cd. The melodies are very soothing and make you feel as though you are a part of the music. Track #9 is my pesonal favorite. I do look forwardto seeing this band live and will buy future productions. rock on guys!!!!

  • Electronic ambience within a dominating stream of warm beats and angelic vocals.
    author: Jeramy Ponder/Jackal Blaster Webzine

    A Violent Narcotic is a mist of woven beats, ambient textures and revolving rhythms and patterns constantly in flux, moving in and out. Although the band evolve around a rock based instrumental formula, the continuous floating beats make it seem unconventional and substantial in creating an etherial landscape. The dominating force of Jute is the angelic melting vocals of siren Julie Axis. She is absolutely essential to the working of Jute, propelling the composition into an abstract lasting beauty. Jute's music is somewhere along the middle ground between the ambient beats and textures of Scorn, with the more classical, compositional framework and gorgeous vocals of Amber Asylum or Miranda Sex Garden. The album also reminds me of the electronic, classical dub work of Controlled Bleeding's Gilded Shadows, particularly Julie's vocal resemblence to Trang on that masterpiece. Despite reference points to other acts, what is very important here is the band's process of finding new ways of musical expression, and their ability to capture the atmospheric beauty successfully and exceptionally. A Violent Narcotic is fantastic, exciting, and beautiful material, and Jute is absolutely one of the very best bands i have heard in a while. Highly recommended.

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