Murderbot draws a loaded weapon and fires two exceptional soundclash sample-saturated ragga jungle hollowpoints. My ears gravitate toward the high-grade “Purple Skunk,” which slices up Ricky Trooper‘s Louie Culture “Bogus Badge” dubplate before offering Tony Matterhorn‘s counter action. Mad! The rest of the single is jammed with funky diced drums and surprising soul nuggets.
The Beauty Room Don’t You Know
The Beauty Room is producer Kirk Degiorgio’s new band project, here featuring vocalist Jinadu covering Jan Hammer’s “Don’t You Know,” a Steely Dan-style mellow soul-funk nugget. Hefner (Lee Jones) steps away from his own sedate musical persona for a mid-tempo boogie mix flush with rhythmic twists.
Tex What Comes Naturally
This mysteriously-labeled 4/4 garage romp gets extra points for the track “Worries In The Dance,” an ode to all soundsystem and Frankie Paul fans. The tune bubbles with garage‘s traditional rhythmic upswing, tinkling organs and a splattering of roughneck samples. The other two tracks are more polished DC/New York-influenced vocal house/UK garage hybrids with gospelly choruses made secular via dirty basslines.
Giant Panda TKO
T.K.O. is the kind of uptempo, funk-sampling and old-school-minded hip-hop record you could see DJs like Cut Chemist, Peanut Butter Wolf, or Bobbito rocking doubles of. Ohmega Watts fattens up the groove on the Mega Mix, while the Pandas rhyme rhythmically in multiple languages. The cover art of a panda bear in boxing gloves sums up the powerful results of this party banger.
Moondog The Viking of Sixth Avenue
Like Sun Ra, Lee Perry and composer Harry Partch, Moondog was an eccentric visionary that pushed the outer limits of recorded sound. A multi-instrumentalist and occasional vocalist from Kansas that lost his eyesight to dynamite at age 16, Moondog arrived in New York in 1944, living on the street, donning elaborate Viking hats, and fashioning homemade instruments. He began releasing astoundingly individual self-produced work from 1949, much of it incorporating Native American rhythms, and was also one of the first to experiment with rudimentary overdubs using two tape machines. These 36 short vignettes, drawn from his lengthy career, are infinitely fascinating slices of abstract jazz: there are vocal rounds, drumming puns, double-bass duels and more-in short, essential listening.
Cedric “Congo” Myton Inna De Yard
Inna De Yard is a series of acoustic sessions recorded live in the yard of renowned guitarist Chinna Smith, the idea being to present roots reggae the way it was originally created. The latest installment features the warbling falsetto of Congos leader Cedric Myton, accompanied by Skatalites trumpeter Dizzy Moore, singer Kiddus I, and unsorted unknowns. While the recording certainly has a raw feel, it sometimes could have benefited from the improved editing that a studio setting affords: the original Black Ark recording of “Congoman” may be an all-time classic, but the extremely loose version presented here seems excessively long at over 11 minutes. Elsewhere there are moments of brilliance and the DVD bonus track brings home the session‘s intimacy.
Jamie Anderson Short Stories
So what does Jamie Anderson tell us with these four short stories? “Food For Thought” is a tale of A.R.T. label-style broken electronic synthesis. “More Or Less” delves into the lives of minimalist old-school techno souls. “Back Then” is a yarn reminiscing on late ‘80s robotic beats and the book finishes with the potent “Open Your Mind”‘s willful Jack-The-Tab acid revival. Talk about pulp friction!
Deekline & Wizard All Your Love
D&W‘s mix of freestyle, hi-NRG and nu-skool breaks will have all but devoted Stacie Q fans balking-it‘s more evidence that most veteran breakbeat producers are more comfortable these days making cheesy “big room” club tracks. Even Ils‘ traditional electro mix is more cookie-cutter batter than a baked-from-scratch Toll House goodie.
Man Like Me Oh My Gosh
Now this is some UK shit. It‘s Fun Boy Three-meets-Dizee Rascal. It‘s Malcolm Mclaren producing Mike Skinner with Bloc Party as the backing musicians, or an art-funk band that wants to be glam-house. I don‘t care what it is, we just need more groups like this to open doors and let some fresh air in.
Owusu & Hanibal Delerium Remixes
Heads from Berlin to LA have been nodding to the Sa-Ra-ish soul cut “Delerium” for about eight months without letting up. This Danish duo‘s crunchy hit gets remixed by Sweden‘s raw kids Up Hygh and Morgan Geist. UH, whose production touch shares sensibilities with J-Dilla and PPP, offers a punchy, hand-clapping rub. Geist, meanwhile, dusts off vintage drum machines to create a Yaz-style fantasia.
