Send "Wu" Ringtones to your Cell 
| Popmatters |
 Supergroups always release compilations like this. You know the kind. The releases are usually full of B-sides, remixes, re-recording, re-mastered, demo-versions, outtakes, etc. Those left over tracks sitting on hard drives or in tape canisters in some vault or studio storage room. Usually, you can find a gem or two but let’s be honest: these compilations are more often than not a quick cash-grab and are only salivated over by those obsessive to the tenth power fans. With Return of the Wu & Friends, skepticism immediately sets in its misleading title. After all, this isn’t really a return at all. No, this is not an official, new Wu-Tang Clan album and none of the members met in a studio to record anything for this release. Instead, here’s the skinny: Return of the Wu & Friends is 16 tracks taken from recordings starting with the 2000’s The W through 2008, put together and produced by longtime, contributing Wu-Tang DJ/Producer Mathematics. The best way to look at this curious record is like a mixtape with a heavy focus on reinterpretation and remixing similar in format to Madlib’s work on Blunted in the Bomb Shelter or Shades of Blue for the Blue Note label. Imagine your friend with some sick DJ skills putting together a mix for you with their favorite and forgotten about Wu tracks post-2000. That’s what we got here. Just roll with it. So how did it turn out? Surprisingly, Mathematics blew a chronic-filled smoke cloud into this album and the results are much more ill that one would expect from the unconventional format. Mind you, not all of it should be credited to Mathematics. Many of these tracks he didn’t even originally produce. And of course, you can’t forget the MC’s. Where Mathematics excels, like any good DJ, is in his choice selection. The most immediately surprising part of Return of the Wu is how much it is an upbeat soulful, affair. For a group that largely built its name off sparse, cold-hitting beats coupled with dark, urban tales; Mathematics has compiled a mix of Wu members at their liveliest. In less than an hour, Return of the Wu rolls along with a sweaty, animated swagger that exhibits a focus that the actual Wu-Tang Clan hasn’t exhibited as a group in years....full text |
| Prefixmag |
| Shaolin's finest are back together again on the upcoming compilation Return of the Wu & Friends, which features remixes, exclusives, and old favorites from the nine-member collective. That means every MC in the Wu-Tang Clan makes an appearance across this record's 15 tracks. Wu-Tang producer/DJ Mathematics compiled tracks for Return of the Wu that were recorded between 2000's The W through 2008, when some of these MCs were recording some flimsy solo records. Included in the mix are new takes on tracks such as "Respect Mine" and "Clap," which are now named "Respect 2010" and "Clap 2010," respectively. Not the most creative names but at least Mathematics flipped them well. You can also find solo cuts like Method Man's "John 3:16" and Raekwon's "Treez." While I'm personally not a huge fan of compilations like this one, at least this isn't merely a money-grabbing "best of" disc....full text |
| Hiphopgalaxy |
| 2010 release, a collection of various Wu-Tang Clan songs and unreleased Wu-Tang remixes all produced by Mathematics. Born and raised in Jamaica, Queens, South Side, Mathematics began his career in 1987 by DJing block parties and throwing his own park jams in Baisley Projects. In 1990, Mathematics linked up with The Genius, AKA GZA. Soon after, RZA asked Math to design a logo for the up and coming crew (Math was a graffiti artist as well), and his resulting design is now instantly recognized worldwide. Return Of The Wu features vocals from the entire Clan including Ghostface, Raekwon, RZA, GZA, ODB, Method Man, Masta Killa, Inspectah Deck and U-God. Six unreleased exclusive remixes by DJ Mathematics are featured on the album....full text |
| Popmatters |
| In the video for Adam Green’s “Buddy Bradley”, the singer is shown ambling through the streets of New York City while bystanders look on, the way they would look at anyone being filmed like that. Adam Green has made a career out of this—being the musical equivalent of a guy walking down the street. He does do not much more than strum a guitar and sing words that sound much like speaking. There are no bells or whistles, he’s not much to look at, and you might just let him walk on by without a second thought. But as with all the people who walk by us every day, Green has a story. And if you happened to listen to the story he tells without much fanfare, you might be amused, you might be amazed, and you might be downright captivated. People are fascinating when you take the time to notice them. Adam Green, the Leonard Cohen of the Pabst Blue Ribbon set, is fascinating. My first introduction to Green was his song “Jessica” (“Jessica Simpson / Where has your love gone? / It’s not in your music, no”), from 2003’s Friends of Mine. Seven years ago, Green could not have predicted the pop culture icon Simpson would become—back then, she was like Ashley Tisdale or any other blond “famous” enough to show up in the celeb weeklies, but not the household word she is today. I thought it was an extremely clever tune, and it stuck with me all these years, but it didn’t compel me to seek out more of Green’s work. I guess the song, and others with titles like “Choke on a Cock”, coupled with his onstage getups as part of the Moldy Peaches, branded him a novelty act in my mind. So the depth and personal quality of Minor Love was a very pleasant surprise....full text |
| Pahardcore |
| Here with a new album of (mostly) inoffensive show tunes is Adam Green. Anyone who has heard Adam Green before has probably done so because of his old band, The Moldy Peaches. If you've heard his old band, The Moldy Peaches, it's probably due to their music being featured in the movie Juno. So if you heard of Green from watching Juno, I don't blame you if you stop reading this review now. While Kimya Dawson, the other half of The Moldy Peaches, continues to make interesting and mostly good folk-y music, Green toils in strange 70's sounding (I hate to use the same word twice, but for lack of a better word) show tunes. The instrumental track on the song Lockout, for instance, sounds like the song from the beginning of Sanford and Son. The only song on this album that breaks away from this strange habit is the track Oh Shucks, which sounds like a third rate White Stripes song with someone's foot a little heavy on the Wah Wah pedal. The lyrics at times seem to be written only to shock and appall such as this line from Castles and Tassles, "Castles and Tassles and flatulent assholes, I love you." While that may be funny to hear, it certainly doesn't make for a particularly good or memorable song....full text |
| Nme |
| Adam Green’s flowering from puerile anti-folk twonk with The Moldy Peaches to suave lounge-country crooner is laudable. This sixth solo outing widens his cultural rehabilitation, carving splinters of Lambchop (‘Cigarette Burns Forever’), Magnetic Fields (‘Castles And Tassels’), Nilsson (‘Give Them A Token’), The Velvet Underground (‘What Makes Him Act So Bad’), The Strokes (‘Goblin’) and Scott Walker (‘Boss Inside’) from a sawdusty bar-stool. An absence of hookers, drugs and wanking – coupled with Wurlitzer, desert echo and Mexican arpeggio – suggest a wonk.country ripening, but hang on: with lyrics like “You are the flatulent one/And I am the boy who has a gun”, it seems maturing doesn’t involve growing up....full text |
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