Mouse Gone Wild

iTunes Review

With 2004’s Mouse Gone Wild, Eek-A-Mouse lives up to his title as dancehall’s greatest eccentric. As one of the genre’s oldest living pioneers, Eek has earned the right to be absurd, and his bizarre artistic choices do a lot to shake up the often-clichéd modern reggae scene. At the same time, Eek's one of the only modern Jamaican artists who can blend surrealist music with social commentary, as evidenced by “Lick Shot,” “Ghetto," and “Jamaicanese.” His bizarre chanting is what makes the music great, but there's also no denying the poignancy of Eek’s singing, which is displayed on “Uptown Dread” and “Ghetto.” For the most part, the weirder Eek gets, the better his music is. “Wine,” “Pussy and the Mouse," and “Hannibal the Cannibal” might confound fans of conventional dancehall, but that’s precisely the point. In the great prankster tradition of Lee Perry and Keith Hudson, Eek delights in mystifying his audience. He understands that confusion is healthy. His ability to hold opposing forces in balance is exemplified on “Schizophrenic,” a song that proudly states his unwavering belief in being fantastically and unpredictably wacky.