Steve 'Flash' JuonRJD2 is so enigmatic I didn’t even know this was a RJD2 album. That’s just how Ramble Jon rumbles and rolls. He could release a new project under a new pseudonym at any time just because he feels like it. He doesn’t owe you, me or anybody else an explanation for why. That won’t stop me from speculating that the pressures of the music industry might have been making him FEEL like an Insane Warrior at the time. It’s certainly not a business built for people who are more interested in creativity than cranking out hits.
You might find yourself lost “Within the Maze” on “We Are the Doorways,” but both the song’s name and album’s title hint at a sound to be found within. Both remind me of a Commodore 64 SID chip in the best possible way. This is where I have to confess to having a nostalgia for this sound that certain readers would not. If you didn’t grow up playing games on a computer affectionately (or ironically) referred to as a “breadbin” this won’t hit you in the feels the same way. If on the other hand you did the sliding synth notes from “Trail of Fire” may make you feel like you’re playing a C64 adventure game that somehow got hooked up to a FRESH drum sequencer via a MIDI cable.
I can’t pretend songs like “Saint Ignatius Belsse” are for everyone. They’re certainly not for anyone who came looking for gangster rap, boom bap, trap, drill, or even funk. What you’re hearing though reflects the cover art of the album — a man who has been beaten down by life who put his gloves on and fought back with his music. He lets those bells ring like he’s a freestyle jazz musician and goes whatever direction his heart is feeling. It’s not hard to imagine this as the backdrop to a scene in a motion picture where the hero slowly and deliberately opens a door only to find freedom is outside.
Coincidentally his presentation here ends with a song called “Sunshine” and it shows me this warrior is far from insane. RJD2 slowly builds up your expectations from the first note, teases out the transitions bit by bit, then at the 90 second mark ejaculates his funk into an orgasmic melody. It’s raw beauty captured by a creative man seeking his outlet to splash color into a world filled with black and white. It sounds like the 1970’s, 1990’s and 2010’s all at the same time. His sound palette isn’t limited by the decade he records in. It’s limited only by his creativity, and Ramble Jon’s is boundless.
“We Are the Doorways” isn’t my favorite RJD2 album. It isn’t even my favorite album from 2011. It is however one of the most overlooked from that year just because RJD2 decided to hide it in plain sight and nobody pointed out that his latest release was staring me in the face. Perhaps it was easy enough to miss with a shambling, disfigured boxer in a flannel shirt on the cover. It doesn’t scream RJD2. That’s the point though innit? He fooled us all.