Sleepin’ on a planter at the Port Authority/Waitin’ for my bus to come

January 12th 2009 by E..

The BPA - I Think We’re Gonna Need A Bigger Boat (Southern Fried Records)

If anyone knows how to throw a party, it’s Norman “Fatboy Slim” Cook.  If you’ve ever seen pictures of the shindigs he hosts on Brighton Beach, you already know how massive a crowd he can draw with the mere spin of a few good records.  Cook’s newest project, the Brighton Port Authority (or BPA), has taken the ‘party record’ concept to new heights with their debut album, I Think We’re Gonna Need A Bigger Boat.  The ‘Jaws’ reference may not only be a nod to Cook’s taste in movies, but a reference to the small army of guest vocalists that populate the album.  Like Mark Ronson’s smash Version, the BPA record employs a different voice on each track.  Unlike Version, though, most of the guests are relative unknowns outside of the British electro and R&B scene.  The Latin-inflected “Should I Stay Or Should I Blow” features fellow DJ/producer Ashley Beedle, and Tom “Cagedbaby” Gandey takes the mic on the slow-burning “Superlover.”  Naturally, someone as world-renowned as Fatboy Slim has some high-profile friends, and they’re plenty well-represented here.  From the unlikely pairing of David Byrne and Dizzee Rascal (”Toe Jam”) to the peerless Iggy Pop covering post-punk goofballs The Monochrome Set on opener “He’s Frank (Slight Return),” the BPA’s ranks are quite heavy with personality.  The set ends as it began, with a cover: folk balladeer Olly Hite’s slowed down and souled-up take on Nick Lowe’s classic “So It Goes.”  Cook has said in interviews that, with the BPA, he is forever retiring his Fatboy Slim moniker.  Though this may come to change, if Cook’s got more tricks up his sleeve for future BPA records, be sure to keep an eye out for a crew of “alarmed and not especially dangerous” characters carrying tape recorders and turntables.  They may just cause a festival to break out.

Review by Eric Schuman

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