Burns Abstract Message - Invisible Airline

Beating His Own Path
by: bill aicher

People often ask me what music I've been listening to recently. When I answer, the next question is usually, "What kind of music is that?" It's usually pretty easy to reply - to compare the music to other acts they might have heard or to classify the music to a genre.

I can't do that with Invisible Airline.

Florida DJ Mike Donaldson (Q-Burns Abstract Message)'s latest album follows closely in the mold he set up with Feng Shui, only this time moving towards a more accessible feel. Still, with it's mixture of styles from house to trip-hop to blues, it's an album that risks running amok but somehow manages to retain direction.

With the soothing vocals of house diva Lisa Shaw, the bluesy growl of Elmo Williams, and the rhymes of Swamburger overlaying the disjointed beats and quirky bleeps set up by Donaldson, Invisible Airline's voyage is as genre-bending as Moby's Play album, though hardly its equal.

Q-Burns seems most comfortable with dance beats, especially in the Brazilian-esque "Asa Nisi Masi" or the house-driven "You Are My Battlestar." It's when he attempts to transcend these genres he obviously is comfortable working with that he trips up, most notably the misplaced "Imprisoned Glitch."

Although Invisible Airline comes off as a Q-Burns most commercial album to date, it ends up being something totally different. There are reasons Q-Burns has remained something of an underground anomaly, a name spoken by those who know the music he's a part of.

And you know what? It's best that way. 17-Dec-200 12:10 AM