Monsieur Job are a Columbian collective lead by Cali based producer and songwriter Toby Holguin. Their eclectic mix of chill-out, breakbeat, hip-hop, dub, reggaetón and latin jazz was displayed to a great extent on debut album Bass Pa$$i, as well as it's subsequent follow up releases. Now with more collaborators on board, Monsieur Job have constructed their next album, the sprawling opus that is W.T.F!. Stylistically it follows in a similar vein to Bass Pa$$i, so it would be easy to look at the seven and half hour runtime of W.T.F! and think that this is some kind of self indulgent project that's inevitably bloated with throwaways and filler. That really isn't the case however, primarily because, at 120 tracks long, W.T.F! isn't supposed to be listened to in the same way most commercial albums are.
In 1970 J.G. Ballard published his surrealist dystopian masterpiece The Atrocity Exhibition, a book broken up into loosely connected short chapters, or "condensed novels" as he called them, with no consistent timeline or character thread to speak of. When he was asked how people should read such an experimental piece of fiction, Ballard proclaimed that they should open up the pages, look for a chapter title they liked the sound of and simply dive on in wherever they felt like it, repeating this until they'd finished the book. I feel that W.T.F! requires a similar method; there's no real way of knowing exactly what you'll get from each song, and throughout the record you'll be taken through multiple genres and meet many different characters. In this way, W.T.F! is far from self indulgent, but actually a rather generous way of providing a whole host of music for the listener to take in as they see fit. There's no obligation to listen to the whole seven and a half hours of W.T.F! in one go, and spinning through W.T.F! in waves as the mood takes you can be a rather freeing experience for the listener.
While there are certainly a lot of different ideas and elements from many genres, the sound doesn't differ as wildly across the album as one might expect. Many of these tracks are filled with blissful atmospheres, foot-tapping beats and soulful melodies, distilling the salsa vibes that Cali is famous for into music that feels remarkably current. There is also a darker side to this record too, and amongst the sunshine you'll find plenty of tracks that offer a more nuanced and melancholic take on Monsieur Job's distinctive sonic fusion.
The first movement of the album is mostly instrumental while the middle section has more vocals involved, a combination of Spanish and English rapping and contemporary auto-tuned singing. This middle section is also where things become a bit darker too, with influences from the current wave of trap really showing themselves as the tracks go on. The more positive vibes start to return with a number of particularly astute remixes and alternative versions of previous tracks that fill out the last quarter of the album. The subdued and sultry remixes of No Pain and Busque Mal are particular standouts, as well as the excellent dub version of I Get High, with it's Natural Mystic-style riddim and glistening spacey synths.
There are some particular tracks throughout the record where the eclectic influences come to prominence. There are instrumental sections of Indian raga on Madrid 87 and Varanasi, Graceland-esque guitars and beats on Changes and a wonderful use of accordion on La Historia De Mi Barrio and There Is Nothing I Can Do To Forget You. There are dubstep sounds on Soul Slurp and Collage, UK bass elements on Bang Bang and The Life, which also includes a fabulous garage style vocal performance, and an expert use of the Amen Break on Uno Con El Mundo. There are some elements which definitely come as a surprise such as the heavy metal guitars on Mueve Tu Culo and Muero Por Ti, as well as the gothic and industrial tinged atmospheres on Fuck, Baila Conmigo Baila Hasta La Muerte and Like An Animal, which has a nice interpolation of the Nine Inch Nails classic Closer.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little intimidated at the initial prospect of reviewing a seven and a half hour long album. It's one thing to listen to a piece of music that long if it's an avant-garde, neo-classical or ambient piece that's designed to be absorbed and experienced in a more sensational way. But with 120 tracks that are intended as much to be standalone songs as they are part of an album, Monsieur Job have created a different beast entirely. Certainly there are tracks that stand out more than others, but with so much material it's surprising how high the overall quality is. So no matter where you choose to dip in each time you listen to W.T.F! , you're unlikely to be disappointed; and the more you do delve into this record, the more tracks you'll find that get you hooked.
You can find out more about Monsieur Job on their official website, and you can also follow them on Instagram and Facebook
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