Ellay Khule (a.k.a. Rifleman) has never been the most publicized member of LA’s Project Blowed collective, yet he carries one of the crew’s most distinctive flows-a lightning-fast, “chop-hop” style. His new album, Califormula, may be the most thorough showcase of his skills thus far, and he’s in good hands with forward-thinking Angelenos Omid and Nobody manning the boards. Despite his accelerated verbal speed, it’s never too difficult to make out his ever-conscious dialect. While his style might be too wild for some, fans of the LA underground and Project Blowed are bound to love it.
Tanya Morgan Moonlighting
On Moonlighting, Brooklyn/Cincinnati hip-hop crew Tanya Morgan (an all-male trio) sets out to convince listeners not to judge a book-er, CD-by its cover. Is the music behind all the masquerading worth checking out, though? For the most part, yes. These guys are as quick to clown as A Tribe Called Quest circa People’s Instinctive Travels, and their lighthearted vibe makes for some entertaining listening. Of course, their soulful and hard-hitting production doesn’t hurt either. While their rhymes can be heavy on complaints, they make sure to keep them comical; the proof is in the hilarious anti-thug rap anthem “Rough It Up.”
Various Artists The Kajmere Sound Vol. 1
On this up-and-coming LA label’s new compilation, you’ll discover a little bit of nu-jazz, some hip-hop, an occasional touch of funk, and everything in between. The silky smooth tone remains constant; it’s the genre-bending collaborations that are most appealing. Just listen to slick-talking MC N8E’s melodious duet with forgotten R&B star Jon B (“Tread Lightly”) or Afrodisiac Sound System’s modern funk explosion, which features an extra bubbly Raashan Ahmad of Crown City Rockers (“Revolution”). Chances are, you won‘t dig everything on here, but you will definitely find something up your alley.
Various Artists The Kings of Jazz: Gilles Peterson and Jazzanova
BBC DJ Gilles Peterson and Berlin nu-jazz radicals Jazzanova need no introduction as worldly tastemakers. Each selected a disc each for this installment of BBE‘s Kings Of series; the result is a 140-minute biography of future jazz. Check Roy Haynes’ “Quiet Fire,” a simmering, impressionistic, percussive wash; the mallet-painted skyscapes of Two Banks of Four’s “Two Miles Before Dawn;” or the insistent hi-hat behind Art Blakey’s “Anthenagin,” a precursor to today‘s dancefloor jazz. Jazzanova perhaps concentrates too little on the broken beats they’re known for, but as a tribute, lesson, or late-night soundtrack, Kings of Jazz is hard to find fault with.
DJ Drez Jahta Beat
For LA’s DJ Drez, hip-hop isn’t just about the boom-baps or the throwbacks-what’s important are the rare grooves that went into hip-hop’s creation, the reggae that preceded and paralleled the music’s growth, and the myriad beats that inform the culture’s sound. So, for his self-produced and mixed Jahta Beat, Drez dug into source sounds from North Africa, India, and the Bronx to create tracks that buzz with sitar and tabla as much as the funk drop. But Jahta comes across more like a world-y chill-out mix, with at least one generic “Eastern” moment for each genuinely interesting fusion.
Various Artists African Rebel Music: Roots Reggae and Dancehall
African reggae has never exploded in the West the way Jamaican reggae has, yet it’s in Mother Africa that the music has not just its roots but some of its finest practitioners. Out Here’s new collection covers everything from Bantu’s fuji-ragga crossover to the Ivory Coast’s Tiken Jah Fakoly (who tout roots vibes like a Francophone Misty in Roots), to Ghana’s Batman, whose gruff-voiced dancehall employs highlife guitars and electronic beats in some of the most distinctly African reggae to date. With hardly a bum track to moan about, Rebel Music is simply a must-have taste of today’s musical transatlanticism.
Edu K Frenétiko
As frontman of Brazilian punk group Defalla, over-caffeinated, heavily tattooed, leather-panted Edu K became one of the first to champion Rio’s then-underground baile funk movement. Since then, Edu K has gone on to join the ranks of baile’s world-renowned booty-bass culture and take that relentless beat forward with his guitar-punked take on the ultra-hyped sound. Frenétiko takes baile funk’s main ingredients-thunderous Miami-style bass, simple 808 beats, gang-chanted Portuguese vocals, New Wave-y synth lines-and extends them illogically with street-punk guitars and shouts. The result is a record ready for the new dance craze: slam grinding.
Mocky Navy Brown Blues
Electro, R&B, hip-hop, nu-jazz-Mocky’s Navy Brown Blues doesn’t win medals in any individual events, but in the decathalon of contemporary soulful electro sounds, he takes the gold. If it weren’t for Mocky’s loving sincerity on “Animal,” with its Bee Gees-quoting lyrics flowed over electro-cheese grooves, the track could’ve been a parody; elsewhere, he references geekiness from Brian Eno to Michael Caine to having the Three Tenors as his ringtone with equally appreciable seriousness. But whether it’s bedroom-eyes ’80s R&B (the title track) or driving, post-Cameo floor-packers like “Extended Vacation,” Mocky’s onto something good-and Navy is almost there.
Gotan Project Lunatico
The vocals of Calexico-the female singer, not the band-on Lunactico’s opener, “Amor Porteno,” instantly transport the listener to La Revancha del Tango, Gotan Project’s near-million-selling debut. The Argentinean trio makes a slight return before launching into bigger basslines and more twisted tango than before, making them crowned beasts of the bandoneon. The reggae-tinged upbeat of “Notas” and the club-anthemic “Diferente” are certain to invade as many global comps as the debut. The lush interplay between floating piano and accordion lines along warm bass notes solidifies Gotan as one of the most inventive, inviting world/electronic projects out there. Lunatico, indeed.
Swayzak Route De La Slack
James Taylor (not that one) and David Brown’s 13-year collaboration in minimal techno is captured on this two-disc retrospective set. The first disc-exclusively remixes-proves more interesting than the second. Swayzak’s takes on Senor Coconut, Quark, and the Rasta-tinged downbeat of Systemwide far outweigh the more tech-heavy intonations of lesser cuts, like the overly electronic versions of Will Saul‘s “Tic Toc” and Slam’s “Human.” Disc two focuses on rarities, and while these tracks are admittedly more driving (much like Swayzak’s stellar live performances), they offer less depth and fewer angles than the remixes.
