King Britt Presents "On The Seventh" (Milan Entertainment)

As a swish hotel with an opulent restaurant and lounge on the seventh floor,
what do you do in order to give your temporary resting spot the edge over the
competition? Well, if you're the Park Hyatt in Chicago, you employ Philadelphia
based King Britt to compile an album to play in the lounge! The concept behind
this is a little odd, but the music from Britt is deeply-touching and much
better than the usual piped dross that many hotels subject their guests to.
Twyla's "Love of a Lifetime" is a hopelessly romantic ode to attempting to find
a special person, backed by acoustic guitar smiles and exhibitionary strings.
Sharkskin's "Kiran's Dance" is not a violent boogie, but an eastern influenced
roller, with an obscured bass and haunting synths. Anetria Wright contributes
the Joseph 'Amp' Fiddler produced "Feeling Of Love", where abrupt synths, sweet keys and touched vocals combine. If they played this type of music in every hotel, then the world would be a friendlier place! (Jon Freer)

As One "Out of the Darkness" (Ubiquity)

Kirk Degiorgio, otherwise known as As One, is a truly masterful producer. His work spans the electronic spectrum, always on the cutting edge whether dabbling in techno, experimental, IDM or avant garde jazz. His 2003 Ubiquity Records retrospective So Far So Good effectively documented this gamut of influences, and summarized his body of work, tracing the patterns of all these styles and their points of intersection.

His latest work Out of the Darkness was originally titled “Into The Darkness”, but a series of positive life changes such as the birth of his son, ensured the transformation into its more cheerful state. This introspective, in-built optimism gives rise to some of Degiorgio’s best work yet, drawing on those threads of soul and jazz evident in his previous work, and amplifying them, in tandem with futuristic beats, into a collection of true future soul.

The beats come in all tempos on Out of the Darkness but are usually some derivation of the broken variety. The album opens on an immediate high with “Hope”, an uplifting broken beat anthem enhanced by gospel-like vocals. In a similarly optimistic vein is, possibly the best track on the album, “Shed Dem”. The melding of Degiorgio’s warm electronic production with the soothing, encouraging vocals of Cathy Battistessa results in a brilliant and heart-warming episode of soulful downtempo broken beat –dubbed as “modern folk-soul” by the press blurbs.

Ever the experimentalist, Degiorgio prods at the boundaries of genres as he feels around for the blurry area where he collapses slowed down broken beats into hip-hop breaks. His partner in crime in these jaunts is MC Lacks who provides competent flows on “It Ain’t Nothin” and “Do You Know.” The former is a jazzy, downtempo/hip-hop excursion and the latter, while suffering a tad from a lyrically lazy hook, features a shimmering hybrid of hip-hop, broken beat and organic jazz courtesy of some warm keys.

Lest these hip-hop tracks along with the Weldon Irvine cover of “I Love You” oozing old-time soul - from the plaintive vocals to the dusty sounding drums – has you thinking Degiorgio’s gone all soft, he pulls out some tougher-edged instrumentals for the dance floor. “Leviathan” and “Sanctified” stick more closely to the broken beat format, but as always his production is richly layered without being fussy. Live percussion intertwines with warm synths while snares snap and basslines rumble. It’s an organic collision of studio and soul.

There’s not much to fault on Out of the Darkness. Perhaps the weakest moment is the Spacek-ish “I’m Down”. The imploringly high-pitched male vocals are a bit of a trigger for the ‘skip’ button. That said, Out of The Darkness is possibly one of the few brilliant albums of 2004. A must-have for any fans of broken beat, nu-jazz or any form of electronic soul.

Om Lounge 9 (Om Records)

Let’s face it, “chill-out” compilations are becoming a bit of a cliché. Every label and their A & R’s momma is putting one out. Lounge music, downtempo, chill-out, whatever you want to call it, the genres and respective collections are often indistinguishable from each other, and while pleasant enough no doubt, now that downtempo is coffee table cool, its become harder to continue to be inspiring.

Om Records for their part are amongst the pioneers of lounge music. Their seminal Om Lounge compilation series began back in 1998 and has been a mainstay in the scene, each one bringing forth original and sublime gems. If my memory serves me correctly there was rumor of Om 7 being the last one in the series, but in any case, the original purveyors have pushed on and continue to show themselves to be at the forefront of the genre. Om Lounge 9 features series stalwarts Jazzanova, Beanfield and J Boogie’s Dubtronic Science, along with newcomers The Rebirth, Harlem Zip code and Niko.

Although this installment is perhaps not as consistent as others, Om score points for attempting to diversify the genre with offerings that are slightly atypical such as Colette’s (formerly known as DJ Colette) “Smile For Me” which is apparently preparing the world for her debut as an artist and vocalist, rather than simply a DJ that sings while she’s spinning. A far cry from the funky, bumpin’ house she is known for, “Smile For Me” is a languid, acoustic-flavored track. Similarly stripped down is Kaskade’s chill-out version of “Steppin’ Out” which plays to its signature acoustic guitar riff.

Stand out tracks include The Rebirth’s funk-fuelled “This Journey In”, and the sultry soul of both Niko’s “Siren” and Harlem Zip Code’ “Where Will You Go.” The weakest link on the collection is Amp Fiddler’s lyrically simplistic “I Believe In You” given an under-par remix by the usually outstanding Bugz in the Attic crew.

Overall Om Lounge 9 is perhaps not the same must-have purchase in comparison to previous installments, but when faced with the deluge of lounge compilations on the shelves, Om Lounge is a name you can always trust.

12" Reviews

courtesy of Jon Freer
Fat Jon - Talk To Me (Exceptional Records)
The portly beatsmith once again displays his knack for making simple yetincredibly emotive tracks in the form of this EP on Exceptional. "Talk To Me"pleads to be listened to, whilst "What's Left" is a stuttering bass-orientatednumber. "Torn Again" is a pained key-led cut, where stroked beats and a rollingbass meet. The Yam Who version takes the bottom out of the track, in order tolet writhing synths and a post-dub bass dominate.

Break Reform - Waiting (Abstract Blue)
After a brief absence, the incredible London-based Break Reform outfit returnwith a serenely minded taster for their next LP. The original version is afragile cut, with melancholic keys, barely there brass and delicate vocals. Domu's revision is an understanding fractured revision, where dejected keys,shuffling beats and inside-out synths bathe Nana's lonely vocals.

Alison Crockett - Crossroads (Wah Wah 45's)
One of Brooklyn's finest vocal talents unleashes another excellent 12" on London's fine Wah Wah imprint. DJ Spinna provides a magnetic version of"Crossroads", where entrancing chords and beautiful synths back Alison's pitched up vocals intent on sorting out her relationship quandary. "Embrace Me" is another emotion-full song, with a slippery bass, slow moving beats and inviting vocals.

Mettle Music - Moodswings: Vinyl Collection #2 (Mettle Music)
Steer clear of the pretty standard House revisions and head straight to thegorgeous broken beat style originals for maximum pleasure. "El Mar" is agorgeous ode to the sea, where Susanna Monterro's lovely vocals partnermeandering guitars and cut strings. "Sleepy Head" takes its strength from thecaptivating strings that sit atop the summery guitars and live bass grooves.

The Rurals - A Deeper Chilling EP Vol. 1 (Peng)
This is the first vinyl outing for three charming tracks, which have been stolenfrom the Rurals most recent CD only long player. "Blame" is an uptempo deepgroover, with banged percussion, magical keys and sad vocals. "Everything I Do"is a warm guitar touched number, and "Charlie Plays" sees Charlie Henshaw dropsome sax science over cymbal orientated percussion and a dancing bass.

Unforscene feat Alice Russell - Don't You Worry (Wah Wah 45's)
Queen of Brit nu-soul, Alice Russell excels on every track she blesses with herawe-inspiring emotional vocals. Here her melodic tones soothe, overdemonstrative strings, liquid keys and slovenly beats. Domu provides a vocalreinterpretation where tight broken beats and a rough bass provide her backing,and a Dub where neat guitars and highly-strung strings shine.

Jeremy Ellis aka Ayro - Lotus (Ubiquity Records)
After the protracted release of his debut LP, it is a pleasure to announce that Ayro's next album will surface on Ubiquity early next year. This lo-fi twotracker shows how Jeremy's sound has developed since he first thrilled the music-buying public with the captivating "Let This" 12" in 2001. "Lotus" sees Jeremy whisper sweet nothings over shimmering synths and incredible strings. "Bombakiss" is an afro-type percussed number, with an elaborate key and bass question and answer session.

V/A - Soma Dubs Vol. 2 (Soma)
Funk D'Void and Envoy get the vocal-less remix treatment from Germany's esteemed Steve Bug and the currently in-vogue Alex Smoke. Steve steals the show with a rude acidic overhaul of "Can't Get Enough Of A Bad Thing", where spongy acid, a frowning bass and forceful keys reign supreme. Alex screws up the original vocals so much on his dub of "Move On" it would have been better if he'd left them off completely, as screeching synths and trippy keys collide underneath.

Leo Tardin's Grand Pianoramax - Starlite (ObliqSound)
Key tinkler Leo Tardin gets his forward-looking jazz track revisited by NuspiritHelsinki and broken beat scientist Domu. The original is a cleverly drummednumber, where guest skin hitter Jojo Mayer's beats provide a contrast to Leo'slight keys. The Nuspirit Helsinki version is a lovely key and trumpet lacedrevision, where a magical provides a real lift. Domu's mixes derive theirenergy from travelling synths that ride fractured percussion on his 'Main Mix'and smooth beats on his '4/4' version.

Ananda Project - Raindown (Exceptional)
Chris 'Anada Project' Brann is an incredibly talented producer of luxuriousdeeper house outings and lush fractured beat driven compositions. "Raindown"features vocals from the wonderful Heather Johnson, whose angelic tones touchedChris's bewitching "Talk Show" track, which was released on Spiritual Life, alittle while back. Here, she adds passionate vocals to a track where rubberybeats, a beautiful sax and guitar-tinkles are the strongest elements. The BluMar Ten revision of "Breaking Down" is an organically toned restful rerub, withsitting back drums, alone keys and a shimmering sax. Louie Vega's 'RevivialMix' of "Breaking Down" uses classic guitars, shining synths and loveable keysto complement Heather's pleading vocals.

ProHipHop Launches Hip Hop Business News Blog

ProHipHop (www.prohiphop.com) launches as the first hip hop business news blog tracking developments across industry sectors. Hip hop business involves a wide range of products and markets that go far beyond urban music and fashions. Clyde Smith gathers hip hop related business news from such industries and subsectors as music, movies, apparel, mobile content, automotive, publishing, jewelry and beverages and publishes them in ProHipHop, a hip hop trade blog.

Clyde Smith conceived the idea of ProHipHop while gathering news for his personal hip hop blog called Hip Hop Logic (www.netweed.com/hiphoplogic). Long fascinated by the spread of hip hop culture and rap music from the Bronx to the rest of the world, Smith began noticing that business news effectively tracked the development of hip hop as a global force. Surprisingly, an extensive search revealed that no one was providing this information in a daily weekday format online. The recognition of a gap in hip hop related information services was the deciding factor in the creation of ProHipHop.

Before ProHipHop, hip hop business news was scattered across sources from consumer to industry-oriented websites and publications. Today ProHipHop offers daily business news that is available in weblog form or via an xml newsfeed for Atom and RSS newsreaders and mobile devices. ProHipHop is also planning an email newsletter edition.

Clyde Smith writes ProHipHop drawing on a rich background in the performing arts (The Lost Colony,High Risk Group), academic research (Ph.D. in CulturalStudies from Ohio State) and freelance writing (HipHop Logic, New Age Retailer). Clyde is also the owner and editor of netweed.

ProHipHop is the first offsite project incubated by netweed (www.netweed.com), the alternative news and culture center. netweed provides basic funding and services for ProHipHop as well as related information resources such as Hip Hop Albums(www.netweed.com/hiphop/albums), Hip Hop Movies(www.netweed.com/hiphop/movies) and Hip Hop News(www.netweed.com/hiphopnews).

ProHipHop is located at:http://www.prohiphop.com
Clyde Smith can be contacted at:prohiphop(at)netweed(dot)com
415-356-9826

Mail: 2370 Market St. #391
San Francisco, CA 94114

Why isn’t KanKick as big as Madlib?

Kankick
Traditional Heritage
(Smoggy Day)
I don’t know why KanKick isn’t on his way to being a super producer of Madlib or J.Dilla –esque proportions. He emerged out of the same Oxnard camp as Madlib, Lootpack etc and some beats on Traditional Heritage reflect this musical commonality - manifested in the dustiest of crate digging, and a varied style informed by extensive musical intelligence. There was a brief flurry of recognition and props around 2001 for his work on Declaime’s Andsoitissaid album of which he produced a chunk, and his own stellar (but generally slept-on) debut From Artz Unknown but somehow that has never translated into more high profile releases. There’s been a few other production appearances here and there including on Wildchild’s Jackal EP and one track on Oh No’s recent album The Disrupt, but seemingly no consistent output.

So when I happened upon this CD on the shelves of Amoeba I was pleasantly surprised to see his name in print again, although a tad dismayed that there had been no publicity or awareness generated. Either way, it’s a solid collection of beats (and the occasional rhyme) all taken from the time period ’96 – 2000 which displays his blunted, diverse styles.

I have since learned that this CD was released in a run of only 1000 – so best pick it up if you are able to find it. According to the scant liner notes, and an ensuing email from the man himself, KanKick has some new ‘ish coming up including Acid Massive Musical. Looking forward to that – more news as I get it. Meanwhile keep your eyes open for Traditional Heritage.

Roni Size "Return To V" (Thrive)

Roni Size returns to the drum-'n'-bass spotlight with an album laden with guest talents. Return to V is billed as a return to his soulful roots, but that tagline proves to be a bit misleading. Size does represent for most forms of d 'n' b on the album, but it's definitely geared toward a harder sound. Return to V is a tour of jungle styles conducted at breakneck pace. Eighteen tracks are mixed together, for better or worse — it helps maintain the pace, but gives none of the tracks room to breathe, and due to the nature of drum 'n' bass, it's not always clear when you've moved from one track to the next.

Most of the tracks, such as "Shoulder to Shoulder," "Fassyhole" and "Give Me a Reason" (the latter featuring d-'n'-b MC-ing stalwart Navigator) feature thunderous scattershot rhythms and the kind of distorted basslines that shake the pictures hanging on your wall, one of the best examples being "Trouble," featuring Rodney P, which has anthem written all over it. These tracks are fairly standard fare for the genre, however. Things get more interesting on "Pull Up," which achieves a successful blend of smooth and tough edges, featuring the honeyed vocals of Vikter Duplaix. The other two standouts are "No More," featuring British soulstress Beverly Knight, and "Sing," featuring diva Jocelyn Brown, both of which are stellar slices of catchy, soulful drum 'n' bass that will further increase Size's rep outside of the immediate genre audience.

In the middle of the album Size slows things down with some industrialized hip-hop and R&B moments. "Time," featuring Darrison, draws parallels to Dizzee Rascal, featuring a similarly arrhythmic foundation. It's an inventive departure from the rest of the album — whether or not it really works as a hip-hop track is up for debate. "Problems" is similarly downtempo, leaning toward a tough-edged R&B sound.

New Forms turned Roni Size into something of an ambassador for drum 'n' bass, that album being one of the genre's few that spoke to mainstream music fans and critics. Perhaps due to the weight of that obligation, and the hopes of a follow-up work as definitive and groundbreaking, Size has chosen to shrug off those expectations this time around with an album strives to be nothing more than true to its genre's roots. It's well produced and mixed, but lacks the edge to make it really interesting. Casual drum-'n'-bass listeners, or those who acquired New Forms for their coffee table, may want to approach Return to V with caution and cherry-pick their listening moments.

Jneiro Jarel Bio

THE HISTORY OF THE MAN THEY CALL JNEIRO
Live and direct out of the Brooklyn borough on down to Philly, JNEIRO JAREL has slowly been digging his way up through the hip-hop underground for 15 years. At the age of 5, JNEIRO JAREL'S family moved out of the Brownsville section of Brooklyn . His mother was in the army, and as a result, he lived in many places. ( Maryland , Arizona , Georgia , etc.) finally touching down in Houston Texas circa 1985.

THE HOUSTON YEARS (1985-1998)
With hip-hop in his blood freestyle experience stirred thick in his back-back, Omar Jarel Gilyard made the transformation into a professional rapper upon touching down in Houston Texas circa 1992 where he took his skills to the streets, quickly landing gigs with Houston notables HI FIVE, YZ, SPECIAL ED, and eventually forming and producing "THE SLUM KIDS" aka “RHYTMIC CREW” in 1994 (the group also included AAHTUE and NAHUMA both of whom make guest appearances on 3PP) . Rocking shows and free-styling with THE PHARCYDE, PRODIGY OF MOBB DEEP, THE GETO BOYS, etc. Life in H-Town's underground hip hop scene was fresh and fierce, but being a big fish in a small town led him to seek out bigger seas.

THE NEW YORK YEARS (1998-2004)
In 98, JNEIRO JAREL felt he had to leave the group and relocate back to NY to realize his dreams. Upon the return he officially changed his name to Jneiro Jarel and quickly became a fixture in OKAYPLAYER’s "BLACK LILY" gigs at THE WETLANDS and BUTTERFLY CAFE'. PUBLIC ENEMY producer HANK SHOCKLEE later “discovered” JJ through MP3.com and instantly had him opening up for JULIE DEXTER , LORD FINESSE and others. While the deal stalled, JJ honed his production skills and started to build a buzz for his skills behind the board. By 2003 JNEIRO was the sole representative from New York to participate and perform at THE RED BULL MUSIC ACADEMY in Cape Town , South Africa .

THE PHILLY YEARS (2004 – PRESENT)
Through his success in the indie-music scene, he has come to link up with well known dee jay/producers such as RICH MEDINA , KING BRITT and THE MARKSMEN. He also has collaborated with JAZZANOVA, DKD, LIZZ FIELDS, TIOMBE LOCKHART, FERTILE GROUND, ANDREW EDWARD BROWN & VINIA MOJICA. Showing his diversity as a producer, JNEIRO JAREL has teamed up with artists such as ROCQUE WUN, MEL OWENS, CAPITAL PEOPLES and DR. WHO DAT? Producing a wide range of styles from acid jazz, afro-brazilian, hip-hop to broken beat.

Back to Album Preview

What's Wrong With People?

Going against the grain of this music-oriented blog, the events of yesterday are deeply significant enough to warrant a small break from regularly scheduled blogging. I'll keep it short - What's wrong with people? and more specifically, Americans? In a heinous case of short-sighted, small-minded, right-wing ignorance, Americans decided to vote for Bush. Something is wrong when such Americans largely voted for Bush in a show of support for his "moral stance". What a joke. Something is wrong when Bush is equated with any kind of morality at all. The fact that people buy into this is simply depressing. On that note, please check out other more informed and eloquent blogs for the full info:
Different Kitchen
Daily Kos
AlterNet
Eric Alterman
People For The American Way
IndyMedia
League of Pissed Off Voters
The Aye Train