godmusic

For Mark Anthony Thompson to call himself ‘Chocolate Genius’ and his fourth album godmusic, he’s got to be either a prodigious talent or an incorrigible fool. The soulful, avant-garde grooves of godmusic make it clear he’s definitely the former, but the fact that he’s not afraid of being labeled the latter is what separates Thompson from the neo-soul hordes. He’s fully aware his dark, downbeat experiments with folk, jazz, blues, gospel, hip-hop, and rock ensure that godmusic will fall between the cracks of the mainstream’s segmented markets, but he won’t change his tune to suit anyone. The haunted gospel dirge, “To Serve You,” sketches the disturbingly thin line between being a devoted servant and an imprisoned slave, while elsewhere, lines like, “Father forgive me/ for yes, I have sinned/ But to drink her bathwater/ I’d do it all over again,” (from “Infidel Blues”) suggest Thompson may not be the guy to turn to for relationship advice. With godmusic though, his pain is definitely our gain.