Reviews of new releases from Mary J. Blige, Royal Trux, and Genaside II   Genaside II Ad Finité (Durban Poison) Of related interest: Tricky, Prodigy, Cypress Hill Tricky, Stroke, Genaside II Roseland Theater, 8 NW 6th Ave., 224-2038 9 pm Wednesday, Sept. 29 $15 advance When I was a record-shop employee used to judging unheard music upon cover-art clues, I filed Genaside under metal. But Ad Finité, a fantastic voyage into the umbra of the cyber-disco world, should actually be in the techno section--or, as Genaside's Kris Bonez more squarely explains, "File it under 'heavy.'" Braiding Tricky's brooding airs with Prodigy's mega-beats, Genaside II spurns the sunny side of the electronica street in favor of its deepest warehouse shadows: Synths glow with a monstrously morbid incandescence, drum machines thump in the night, and voices (both live and sampled) whisper and wail. In addition to the pervasively gothic gloom, Genaside pumps this platter up with edgy urban malaise. At times, Ad Finité recalls the stark instrumental darkness of Cypress Hill or the Wu-Tang Clan, minus the MCs, while the liner notes echo Redman's Dare Iz a Darkside. Whether Genaside II is extrapolating from Gil Scott-Heron, Information Society or anyone else is irrelevant, though. It's simply a kick to hear someone tearing so viciously at shiny-happy house music. Just when you kids thought it was safe to go back in the rave clubs... John Graham   Royal Trux Veterans of Disorder (Drag City) Of related interest: Rolling Stones, Ornette Coleman, Milles Plateaux This new Royal Trux record can be described using the somatic metaphor introduced by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari in A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia: "the smooth and the striated." To determine whether a text is smooth or striated, one examines its body to determine whether its tissue is arranged in parallel sheets or transverse striations. The text may be marked by the continuity or discontinuity of perception, a mellifluous or harsh enunciation, a surface either laminar or disturbed. One evaluates the consistency or fragmentation of authorial voice, regular or irregular rhythms and the relative constraint by or liberation from formal devices. "Striated texts" such as Veterans of Disorder display aspects of broken syntax, dense allusion and procedural forms that ripple and contort the language of the "text." Royal Trux's gritty aesthetic and collage-like songwriting may seem a bit daunting, but there is indeed an exquisite method to the madness. The new album highlights the duo's ability to assimilate the work of rock's best fringe artists (Amon Duul, Yoko Ono, Capt. Beefheart), including earlier incarnations of itself (Twin Infinitives), putting the subversive back in verse. See the song "Sickazz Dog" for further elucidation. Jay Sanders   Mary J. Blige Mary (MCA) Of related interest: My Life, What's the 411? I love Mary J. Blige. Not in a sexual sense--more like the girl from around the way you smoke blunts and sip Thug Passion with all day. In '92, What's the 411? floored headz with Mary's raspy voice pouring soul over hip-hop beats. Many tracks since then have been blessed by Mary J., from Grand Puba's "Check It Out" to Method Man's "All I Need" to DMX's "Coming From." Mary's second LP, the classic My Life, had me wide open like a prostitute's legs as its knocking beats escorted the sorrow of her failed relationships. Though many have tried, none has come close to capturing the dope tenor of My Life--not even Blige herself, who has since departed from hard beats in favor of a more smooth, mature sound. That doesn't mean breakbeats and samples aren't heard on her latest, Mary. "Time" snags the drum loop from Biggie Smalls' "I Got a Story to Tell" and slips Stevie Wonder's "Pastime Paradise" into the mix, resulting in a gentle, head-nodding track about the last days and times. Still, it's the buttery "Beautiful Ones" that leaves a lovely residue in your ears with its luscious vocal arrangements. After listening to Mary, there is no doubt that my love remains strong after all these years. H.V. Claytor Jr.   - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Willamette Week | originally published September 29, 1999