Cody ChestnuTT - The Headphone Masterpiece

Whether you heard of him or not, the raw black soul displayed on every second of the long-awaited Headphone Masterpiece made it the best LP of 2002. To be brief, here is the pretty remarkable story behind this album: a talented musician, with a band, who after years had finally got his (and any other artists) lifelong ambition fulfilled by getting a record contract. Things start to fall apart. The deal is gone. The band leave him. He's alone. He retreats to his home studio, and bangs out 36 tracks of pure emotion, produced and performed entirely by himself on his home equipment. Cody ChestnuTT's Headphone Masterpiece. Well, that's the first half of the story. I'll tell you the second half later on.

The double-album starts off with a bang, Upstarts in a blowout is very remeniscent of the 60's sounds of the Rolling Stones, however something in the attitude of this singer is very obviously different. Cody ChestnuTT is a black man! You can feel it, you know it, and it's empowering to listen to because it's something totally fresh. This is one of the very few albums of 2002, with the possible exception of El-P's Fantastic Damage that has given the audience a completely new sound/style to get accustomed to. Unlike Fantastic Damage however, the music here is all very easy to take in, very palletable, this is the sort of music that people came up with in the 60's and 70's. Cody plays every instrument on the album, most notably, the guitar, bass, and organ, which all feature regularly.

The most outstanding feature on the album is the honesty behind the lyrics. On Boylife in America he sings with a passion, "All I want is pussy, give me some religion, a brand new cadillac and a winning lotto ticket" When I used to see X-rated Richard Pryor shows I would get the same vibe as Cody gives off with many of his X-rated lyrical confessions. It is not at all about sex though, if it was it couldn't be a masterpiece, there are tender moments, and emotional moments that make him a lot more vulnerable than shallow lines about his ego (of which there are admittedly quite a few). On Somebody's Parent he apologizes to his family with these same lines repeated continuously throughout the song "All day with no niccotine, is the reason I been so mean, Oh baby forgive me for being the dick that I've been to the children and you." It's these lyrics that sound like they have been taken from a diary that make this music stand out so much. You simply can't help noticing that this sort of music, essentially pop music, shouldn't have these kind of soul-piercing lyrics on them. On the final track insecurity creeps it's way in, "When the beat that brought me here is over with, before the talk gets round that I'm outside of it, I'm gonna live it up and leave." The knowledge we have of his past dealings with the industry really put into perspective how some artists must feel about the all-too short time many people get in the spotlight these days.

One of the many eccentricities of this album is the use of the very 80's sounding drum machine. Yes, he plays every single instrument on this album, and since his band left him, he decided to 'play' the drums himself. Ever-present, completely obvious, very retro, and completely unapologetic, the drums are meant to be the way they are, as are all the small imperfections that he places within the album to give it the organic feel it has. On 5 on a joyride, a somber ballad, you hear him stopping to take a breathe and swallow, right in the middle of singing a note. Similarly on Can't get no better, an R'n'B style groove, you hear him clearing his throat, right before singing the opening lines. It's a real album.

These imperfections might be looked upon as gimmicks if you're simply reading the review, but to hear the sound of his voice, and the true song-writing talent is an entirely different and refreshing experience. On My Women, My Guitars, a folk song very remeniscent of Bob Dylan, he sings "I get up off of my ass, I get out of my bed today, I got a dick full of blood, and a wide open heart to lean on". His soul is constantly mixed in with poetry and topped off with his powerful and musically diverse voice. Diversity is definitely a key-word here, as many others have noted, this album does, truly have something for everyone. A handfull of folk songs, 80's punk, rock 'n roll, the odd RnB tune, some subconscious / ambient insanity. Then there are the truly indescribable and genre bending classics like Serve this royalty, which need to be heard and experienced in order to be properly comprehended, I apologize for not being able to describe this song with more accuracy, but some things are best left to the ears. Needless to say it is a classic.

This is not an intellectually stimulating album, it is a soul album, and soul is not a genre of music, as he displays aptly here, injecting his soul into whatever style of music and/or subject matter he chooses. This is an album to be felt, not understood, and it's an album made all the more rewarding if you share it with your friends, as I have found out. It's been one of the biggest topics of conversation in the underground music scene for a while now. It's a great story.

Speaking of stories, what was the second half of the Cody ChestnuTT story? After getting airplay on a few radio stations Cody found himself inundated with offers to release this album, we're talking seven figure deals here. However, they all made one request which may have seemed an obvious one to most people used to dealing with record companies, "Re-record the songs in a professional studio, we can't release something that is recorded on an 4-track with background tape hiss!" So he turned down every deal and made his own label where he continues to release his own music. In his own words, "I didn't want to re-record anything because they (the original songs) had the authenticity of a moment being captured. It had the spontaneity of music, the way it's supposed to be. Something that happens when you don't know it's happening. You feel me?"

Yes.

I could carry on comparing Cody ChestnuTT to so many people because he is obviously someone who has payed close attention to the artists who came before him. Cody ChestnuTT has Bob Dylan, Prince, Marvin, Carly Simon, James Brown talking together in his head, he's in control though, and the unique sound is his alone. Buy this album, be surprised, remember what music can do.

Y.Misdaq aka Yoshi, 20 Dec 2002