Quality release from my favorite new label. The excellent Precision Cuts head for the dancefloor with “Miracle.” Great rolling breaks, squelching acid lines and lush synths mixed together with the Cuts magic formula. A must for fans of this label and artist.
Bravehearts Situations
The lyrics are cool but it’s the beat I was diggin’, something you can ride to. Of course Nas stepped up and blessed the track, and there’s no doubt that this goes right into rotation in my club set.
Killer Mike Scared Straight
His lyrics tell a story that you can really feel and understand. Combine that with a hilarious hook and smooth it out over some Southern/West Coast-style beats, and you have the recipe for a bangin’ joint.
Lil Kim & Mr. Cheeks The Jump Off
Yo, she’s back! Risky lyrics? Of course, and they flow together with that always-hot Timbaland production like electricity and Benjamins (Franklin that is). Lace it with some Mr. Cheeks flav, and “Jump Off” your seat is the end result.
Richard Davis Safety
Richard Davis has obviously been taking notes on all of the recent reconciliations of house in the image of clicks and cuts, and thankfully he doesn’t regurgitate them. Instead, he rebuilds and reworks the cues into beautifully salient and crisp forays into the trademark understated-but-oh-so-fierce 4/4. Most appealing is Davis’s precision production, where intelligent compression and a crisp meticulousness support the vocalist Souc Souc Silversponge’s whispered sexiness along with Richard Davis’s own appropriate vocal peppering. Like an Englishman living in Germany (which he is), Davis knows the benefit of coming from acid house but traveling the Trans-Europe Express. Davis’s Safety is the juicer aspect of microhouse J.
Ralph Myerz and the Jack Herren Band A Special Album
Ironic nu-soul lounge of decidedly Northern European flavor, this tongue-in-cheek excursion fits the late-’60s early-’70s nuance with a fondue-like catchiness. A tiki-bar aesthetic wrapped in the hipster knowingness of cosmopolitan living, the electronics are nearly Jimi Tenor in style, indie rock in arrangement. The final production is topped with a dash of buoyant flashiness. Perfectly in tune with the discriminating yet mockingly authoritative party host, this CD would do justice on any in-the-know’s play list. Not for your cynical collector, but at the same time smartly disparaging to the lemming-like majors, this truly is a special album for its ability to fit between the two.
Filter Science Darkness Falls (Joey Beltram Rmx)
How does Beltram keep a half-bar loop so exciting throughout the entire remix? Now that’s an art. This one-sided pink vinyl release is disco to the max that’s friendly to both house and techno fans with its skilful filtering and pitch shifts.
Frederic Galliano & The African Divas Woulai Re-Works
Two remixes from Soul Designer and Josh Brent, but it’s the latter version that has me hooked: a banquet of African tribalisms, recursive vocal chants and a hint of lush ambience that takes me back to Carl Craig’s inspirational 69″ era. A beautiful piece of work.
Mark EG & Chrissi Internal Flux EP
Converter is the track for me, with its addictive and intense analogue sequencing and tough Jay Denham-influenced funk. Sounds absolutely huge in a club-the floor reaction during the breakdown as the riff goes haywire has me speechless every time.
MC Lyte Is Lytro Da Underground Heat Vol. 1
With 15 years in the hip-hop game, six career albums and a greatest hits comp, MC Lyte was the first female rapper to turn out a gold single with the cult classic “Roughneck.” With that said, if there were a university for female emcees, Lyte would be the dean. And though her machine-gun delivery is as present as ever on her seventh and latest release, that it was made in four days is quite apparent. Maad Phunk!’s production rests on overly tired loop production, which does nothing to pump up Lyte’s lack of hook structure and trite lyrics focusing on her longstanding career. That today’s female rappers would be nothing without her is true, but perhaps it’s time to pass the torch.
