Slightly silly names aside, San Fran MCs Rawj, Sidebee and Oatmeal are helping revive the Bay Area’s progressive-hop tradition. The title track twinkles with piano and guitar bits over a beat and some humble, just-rhymin’-’bout-life lyrics, while the flip’s “Tunnelvision” runs more perspective over beatbox ‘n’ beats. Hella tight, as the kids say.
DJ Rush Heart and Soul EP
Four hard and playful party bits from Chicago-born techno vet Rush. Amongst off-kilter synth stabs, bangin’ bass, rumbling beats and jazzy sass, Rush plays alien on one track and advisor to the guys on another, and knows when to go instrumental. A style that recalls the genre’s innocent days.
Maf & So Madoda
From out of Johannesburg’s Soul Candi record store emerges the Phezulu label, and what a launch. Thumping drums, softly strummed guitar chords and subdued pop-and-slide bass, a bold party chant and a gorgeous b-side dub make this the sleeper African house anthem for ’03. Huge.
Cassandra Wilson Vodou EP
Two slabs, five tunes and a real revelation, as producer Joe Claussel hands in some serious African jams. The centerpiece is Wilson’s 12-minute “Run The Voodoo Down,” which Claussel slathers with dramatic guitar atmospheres and cranking percussion, but don’t sleep on his smoothly Latin housed-up vision of “You Don’t Know What Love Is” and three auxiliary percussion bits by London’s Yoruba Jazz People.
The Flaws Feat. MC Chick-A-Boo Freek
Bitches Brew label honcho Nikki Lucas connects with Lacarno & Burns’s Tim Burns to bust out the new century’s first pansexual dancefloor smash. Early house and techno dynamics tastefully buoy MC Chick-A-Boo’s attitudinally androgynous vocals on the original, and remixes by Ewan Pearson and Lucas cover more minimal territory. Bound for glory, this one.
Freddie Cruger Feat. ADL Running From Love
Top Stockholm producer and MC bring some hard reggae-tinged vibes. Ol’ Freddie slides roots vocal and instrumental samples under ADL’s innovative yet smooth East Coast flow. Add Imperial Dread’s dub mix and Cruger’s Latin discofunkstramental “The Hustle,” and it makes one for one for brand new label Jugglin’.
Headnodic Walk Something
These two 45s spotlight the production skills of bassist/beatmaker Headnodic of the Bay Area’s rising Crown City Rockers (formerly Mission). Rhyme tracks like the loping, piano-touched “Walk” and the laidback “Something” with Raashan Ahmad work well, but check the instrumentals, especially the Rhodes-rockin’ “Persistence” and the string-driven “Presipus.” Hot.
Truby Trio High Jazz Rmxs
Last year’s new jazz revelation is remixed on two releases to mixed results. On one, Nicola Conte brings it back to traditional Latin flavor with piano, vibes and flute, while the Trio remix themselves in a surprisingly non-contextual Detroit techno style. The winner: Freeform Five’s bad ass disco-funk throwdown. Big boogie booyah!
Jacek Sienkiewicz Narrative
Warsaw tech vet Sienkiewicz beautifully balances the esoteric, minimalist sound-design angle with an ear for what will bang on the floor, as shown by these four tight tracks on his label. Kid’s got no problem adding sharp claps or party-ish chords to his skeletal framework-lucky for us.
Neptune Nevermind Love Is Good
Alexander East’s deep jackin’ house imprint unleashes a classically Chicago jam by a producer sounding a lot like, well, Mr. East himself. The aim here’s to hypnotize, and with bumping acid bassline, spitting shuffle rhythm and bopping vocal bits, our Nep does just that.
