The Cinematic Orchestra ‎– To Believe (2019)

Style: Contemporary Jazz, Downtempo, Soul-Jazz
GFormat: CD, Vinyl
Label: Ninja Tune

Tracklist:
1.   To Believe
2.   A Caged Bird / Imitations Of Life
3.   Lessons
4.   Wait For Now / Leave The World
5.   The Workers Of Art
6.   Zero One / This Fantasy
7.   A Promise

Credits:
Bass – Kaveh Rastager, Sam Vicary
Double Bass – Kevin Abdella
Drums – Luke Flowers
Guitar – Kevin Abdella, L D Brown
Keyboards – Dominic J Marshall
Orchestra – Metropole Orchestra
Organ – Dennis Hamm
Percussion – João Parahyba
Piano – Aleks Podraza, Dennis Hamm
Saxophone – Tom Chant
Strings – Miguel Atwood-Ferguson
Synthesizer – Dennis Hamm
Vocals – Dominic Smith
Backing Vocals – L D Brown
Performer, Producer, Arranged By, Written-By – Dominic Smith, Jason Swinscoe

I’ve always found the Cinematic Orchestra too pretentious, too austere, a band whose ambitions outran their abilities. With this fourth album, 12 years after their last, that austerity is over. To Believe is heartbreakingly brilliant: a collection of exquisitely assembled songs that appear delicate from a distance before revealing a close-quarters core strength. Band leaders Jason Swinscoe and Dominic Smith have loosely arranged seven lightly jazzy tracks around the themes of belief and what it means to believe. Much as the pair attempt to make movies with their music, the best song has no dialogue: the meandering instrumental Lessons is a glorious balm, nine minutes of murmuring conversation between the players, dominated by Luke Flowers’ gently military drums. It has depth and meaning without context, the ideal soundtrack to a film that doesn’t exist. The sweeping grandeur of A Caged Bird/Imitations of Life is another cinematic collaboration with the always articulate and engaging Roots Manuva, a sort-of sequel to the epic All Things to All Men, and just as good. Every song here could easily be five or 10 minutes longer. A triumph. 

Damien Morris / The Guardian

Joe Harriott And John Mayer Double Quintet ‎– Indo-Jazz Fusions I & II (1998)

Style: Fusion, Free Improvisation, Easy Listening
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Redial, EMI, Double-Up, EmArcy

Tracklist:
1.   Partita
2.   Multani
3.   Gana
4.   Acka Raga
5.   Subject
6.   Raga Piloo
7.   "Song" Before "Sunrise"
8.   Purvi Variations
9.   Mishra Blues

Credits:
Alto Saxophone – Joe Harriott
Bass – Coleridge Goode
Drums – Alan Ganley, Jackie Dougan
Flute – Chris Taylor
Harpsichord – John Mayer
Piano – Pat Smythe
Sitar – Diwan Motihar
Tabla – Keshav Sathe
Tambura – Chandrahas Paigankar
Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Kenny Wheeler, Shake Keane
Violin – John Mayer
Composed By, Directed By – John Mayer
Mastered By – Erhard Meldau

Filho Da Mãe ‎– Água​-​Má (2018)

Style: Acoustic, Blues Rock, Experimental
Format: CD, Vinyl, FLAC
Label: Lovers & Lollypops

Tracklist:
01.   Praia
02.   Não Me Voltes Atrás
03.   Os Meus Ombros Chumbaram a Geografia
04.   Nem Chuva, Nem Cães
05.   Não, Não Danço
06.   Perseguição De Bananas
07.   Camelos Nas Levadas
08.   Poncho Como O Vento
09.   Marraram As Ondas, Partiu-se O Pontão
10.   Casa

Credits:
Mastered By – Nuno Monteiro
Producer, Songwriter – Rui Carvalho
Recorded By, Producer, Mixed By – Hugo Valverde

Filho da Mãe já é um sedimento na música portuguesa - ao longo dos anos, o rio que Rui Carvalho evoca com a própria música criou o pós-hardcore dos If Lucy Fell, os caos acústicos de Palácio e Cabeça e o Mergulho no pouco convencional, não esquecendo ainda colaborações com artistas como Ricardo Martins. Apesar da jornada ter sido longa e variada, o guitarrista de Lisboa regressa à complexidade que usou para fazer o seu primeiro álbum a solo, Palácio, e infunde-lhe uma dose extra de americana e primitivismo. 

Agua Má - o resultado de uma residência na Madeira - é já o quarto álbum de estúdio que Filho da Mãe edita em nome próprio em apenas 7 anos e revela-se como um exercício mais sóbrio sobre velhas tendências. Melodias e harmonias bem pensadas são reforçadas por uma produção minimal, em que as respirações que pautam e marcam o compasso humano de cada tema são tão musicais como a música em si. Rui Carvalho continua a impingir a sua impaciência musical nas pequenas variações que incute às frases que constrói à volta de cada tema, sendo possível, como sempre, respirar a mesma substância que certamente também terá inspirado Norberto Lobo, suada pelos grandes nomes da guitarra primitiva de John Fahey, Robbie Basho e Sandy Bull, entre outros.

Surpreendentemente, a empunhar o típico instrumento mais cliché possível e a fazer apenas uso dele, Filho da Mãe consegue ser ainda dos artistas portugueses mais refrescantes da atualidade, não precisando de esquemas complexos ou de sonoridades caricatas para fazer render as 6 cordas que enchem salas e corações. Por todo o disco há uma sensibilidade musical característica, ressoando ao logo da primeira metade de Água Má. Somos levados por linhas orelhudas que, por breves instantes, se ausentam para abrirem desarmonias - um caso catedrático é "Não, não danço", com uma melodia quasi-pop, a tornar imprevisível a agradável sensação de estranheza que acordes mais dissonantes causam. 

"Perseguição de bananas" marca a entrada no lado mais ambicioso do disco. Abandona-se o pop mas retém-se a sensibilidade, com o "pós-folk" de "Camelo nas Levadas", o dedilhar incessante e incansável de "Poncha como o vento", e as reverberações exageradas e sinuosas de "Marraram as ondas, partiu-se o pontão", uma epopeia em menos de 7 minutos àquele que é Filho da Mãe - um tema que nos deixa ao abandono para mais tarde nos vir buscar, um tema que é perder para de novo encontrar, um tema que castiga para mais tarde abraçar e que se destaca como o melhor momento deste disco. De uma maneira pouco comum, "Casa", a última "música" do disco é talvez a que nos soa mais familiar, uma gravação de campo com lugar que chegue para o íntimo. 

Como não há maneira de o pôr sem soar bajulador, digo-o de uma só vez: este é o melhor trabalho que Rui Carvalho, em todas as suas incarnações, produziu. É simultaneamente sensível e agressivo, com uma premonição sobre-humana para saber o que é preciso em cada momento para que as frases musicais se concretizem em temas concretos. Esta água pode não ser boa de nome, mas faz-nos tão bem. 

thresholdmagazine.pt

Bonobo ‎– Migration (2017)

Style: Downtempo, House, Electro, Future Jazz
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: No Paper Records, Ninja Tune

Tracklist;
01.   Migration
02.   Break Apart
03.   Outlier
04.   Grains
05.   Second Sun
06.   Surface
07.   Bambro Koyo Ganda
08.   Kerala
09.   Ontario
10.   No Reason
11.   7th Sevens
12.   Figures

Credits:
Bass Clarinet – Mike Lesirge
Cello – April Dawn Guthrie
Clarinet – Mike Lesirge
Double Bass – Simon Gree
Drums – Jack Baker
Electric Piano– Simon Green
Electronics – Simon Green
Flugelhorn – Ryan Jaco
Flute – Mike Lesirge
Guitar – Simon Green
Keyboards – Jon Hopkins
Mellotron – Simon Green
Percussion – Harrison Mills
Piano – Jon Hopkins, Simon Green
Producer – Simon Green
Programmed By – Simon Green
Synthesizer – Simon Green
Tenor Saxophone – Mike Lesirge
Trombone – Alan Hardiman
Trumpet – Ryan Jacob
Viola – Rocio Marron
Violin – Bianca McClure
Vocals – Innov Gnawa, Nick Murphy
Written-By – Jon Hopkins, Simon Green

It’s been a long road for Simon Green, aka Bonobo, since his 2000 debut Animal Magic. Back then, he was seeking a bridge between downtempo electronica and the more playful and experimental artists on his soon-to-be-label home Ninja Tune; he came off as a bit too fuzzy for the former and not quite adventurous enough for the latter. Over the years, Green has honed his craft, shedding his early Amon Tobin Lite image and taking downtempo more seriously as a genre. On this way, he’s discovered late-breaking success: His last album, The North Borders, became a mainstream hit across Europe in 2013. On Migration, Green makes his most sophisticated record yet. 

Green’s songwriting on The North Borders failed to match the sophistication of his production, and the album’s persistent moodiness grew wearisome. On Migration, Green has jettisoned the tepid slow-build dynamics: The nearly-eight minute colossus “Outlier” and its shuffling gallop of a beat leave downtempo in the dust, taking the listener on a journey that’s part Burial, part Rival Consoles. The song’s breakdown and slowly disintegrating comedown suggests Four Tet at his most delicate. These aren’t typical reference points for Bonobo, and show an artist still willing to seek new ideas. The piano of opener “Migration” is pulled from the playbook of post-classicists like Ólafur Arnalds or Peter Broderick and an “Amen”-esque drum break midway that amplifies the song’s sense of longing. The triumphant “Ontario” is the closest thing this relatively forward-looking record gets to nostalgia, with a booming beat and sitar that hearkens back to Animal Magic and other turn-of-the-millennium Ninja Tune releases. 

Green continues his periodic use of vocalists to transform his ideas into full-fledged pop songs. The results in the past have been hit-or-miss, but he finds his stride here. “Break Apart,” featuring the graceful genderless contralto of Rhye’s Milosh over a sampled harp, is exquisite; “Surface,” featuring Hundred Waters’ Nicole Miglis, is even better. Nick Murphy’s (fka Chet Faker) “No Reason” is less interesting, though it’s easy to imagine how it (or “Surface” for that matter) could become a club hit in either current or remixed form.

All told, Migration is an impressive improvement over The North Borders, and easily the most listenable record of Bonobo’s fifteen-plus year career. It’s a record with equal appeal for electronic music fans and general listeners, something you could put on anywhere. Essentially, it recasts downtempo as a genre with more potential than party music on the Bosphorus. 

Benjamin Scheim / Pitchfork 

Generation Next / Big Strick ‎– Like Father, Like Son (2014)

Style: Deep House, Techno
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: 7 Days Ent.

Tracklist:
01.   Big Strick - 1802
02.   Generation Next - The Myth Of Miami
03.   Big Strick - Stickin' & Movin
04.   Generation Next - And You Too
05.   Big Strick - Rain Dance
06.   Big Strick Ft. Tony Coates - The Ride
07.   Generation Next Ft. Don Q - Mo' Money
08.   Generation Next / Big Strick - Like Father Like Son
09.   Generation Next / Big Strick - Full Of Life
10.   Generation Next - Flynn's

Credits:
Mastered By – PCMJR

Big Strick founded 7 Days Ent. after a string of releases on Omar-S's FXHE. In late 2012, the label released Resivior Dogs Volume. 1, which featured "Family Affair," a collaboration with Omar-S, and "Windsor Nights," a track from Generation Next, Big Strick's 16-year-old son Tre Strickland (and, as it happens, Omar-S's nephew). Generation Next has since released two solo 12-inches of aqueous jams on 7 Days Ent., and he returns here with Like Father Like Son.  

Like Jay Daniel's recent EP on Sound Signature, the two solo tracks here suggest a young producer with an impressive but still maturing sound. "And You Too" is wintry house, with a choked atmosphere and grotty sub-bassline. It's moody and slightly indistinct, but still effective. Generation Next works well with his dad on "Like Father Like Son," riding on a juicy bassline and tentative percussion that has the kind of gauzey, early morning sound Fred P's a master of. Still, Big Strick's own "Rain Dance" is the standout, evoking Rick Wilhite's Analog Aquarium, with muted bells, puffy arpeggios and dub reggae organs. Big Strick doesn't let the distortion overpower the arrangement, and the resonant metalwork and feathery kick together are divine. 

Big Strick founded 7 Days Ent. after a string of releases on Omar-S's FXHE. In late 2012, the label released Resivior Dogs Volume. 1, which featured "Family Affair," a collaboration with Omar-S, and "Windsor Nights," a track from Generation Next, Big Strick's 16-year-old son Tre Strickland (and, as it happens, Omar-S's nephew). Generation Next has since released two solo 12-inches of aqueous jams on 7 Days Ent., and he returns here with Like Father Like Son.  

Like Jay Daniel's recent EP on Sound Signature, the two solo tracks here suggest a young producer with an impressive but still maturing sound. "And You Too" is wintry house, with a choked atmosphere and grotty sub-bassline. It's moody and slightly indistinct, but still effective. Generation Next works well with his dad on "Like Father Like Son," riding on a juicy bassline and tentative percussion that has the kind of gauzey, early morning sound Fred P's a master of. Still, Big Strick's own "Rain Dance" is the standout, evoking Rick Wilhite's Analog Aquarium, with muted bells, puffy arpeggios and dub reggae organs. Big Strick doesn't let the distortion overpower the arrangement, and the resonant metalwork and feathery kick together are divine.  

Aaron Gonsher / Resident Advisor

Señor Coconut Y Su Conjunto ‎– El Baile Alemán (2000)

Style: Cumbia, Merengue, Latin, Cha-Cha, Experimental
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label:  Emperor Norton, Multicolor Recordings, EFA

Tracklist:
01  Introduccion
02  Showroom Dummies (Cha-Cha-Cha)
03  Trans Europe Express (Cumbia)
04  The Robots (Cha-Cha-Cha)
05  Neon Lights (Cha-Cha-Cha)
06  Autobahn (Cumbia Merengue)
07  Homecomputer (Merengue)
08  Tour De France (Merengue)
09  The Man Machine (Baklán)
10  Music Non Stop (Cumbia)

Credits:
Arranged By, Conductor – Señor Coconut
Programmed By, Concept By, Producer – Atom™
Shaker – Ricardito Tambo
Vocals – Argenis Brito, Jorge González

Despite his name, his album title and the fact that his introduction is in Spanish, Senor Coconut is a German called Uwe Schmidt who fronts a six-piece Danish backing band. "El Baile Aleman" means "the German dance", a perfectly logical title for Herr Coconut's Latin-tinged Kraftwerk tribute LP (recorded in Chile). Only a maniac, you would think, would filter the Dusseldorf wunderkinder through an array of South American dance beats, but it works staggeringly well, not least because of the ingeniously Kraftwerkian vocals. 

The paradox of Kraftwerk is that their apparent iciness achieves sleek and sensual results, as, in its way, does Coconut's squad of ersatz Latinos. The Robots closely echoes the original's spooky shimmer, but with extra hip-swivel; Trans Europe Express uses Latin percussion to evoke a chuffing train; and Home Computer sustains the illusion that a digital pulse is ticking beneath its trumpets and jittery merengue beat. Surely unique. 

Adam Sweeting / The Guardian

Anderson .Paak ‎– Ventura (2019)

Genre: Hip Hop
Format: CD
Label:  Aftermath Entertainment

Tracklist :
01.   Come Home
02.   Make It Better
03.   Reachin’ 2 Much
04.   Winner's Circle
05.   Good Heels
06.   Yada Yada
07.   King James
08.   Chosen One
09.   Jet Black
10.   Twilight
11.   What Can We Do?

It’s not often that an artist’s mum feels prompted to respond to criticism of their work, but that is precisely what happened in the wake of Anderson .Paak’s last album. Intended as a star-studded, big-budget epic to mark his move from indie labels to Dr Dre’s behemoth Aftermath Entertainment, Oxnard turned out to be a Grammy-winning commercial success despite mixed reviews, the most common criticism being that some of his previous work’s appeal had been forgotten amid the production gloss and the big-name guest appearances. Perhaps understandably, this interpretation held little sway with the singer/rapper’s mum. “To all the haters that said Anderson .Paak ‘lost his identity in the Oxnard album’, this Is what I have to say about it,” she offered, in a message shared on social media. “I don’t agree … on the contrary, Paak didn’t lose his identity, he presented his great diversity. And all the haters can take that to the bank!”

Ma Paak sounds like a woman not to be messed with, but something about what the people she styled as “haters” had said hit home with the artist. Ventura sounds like the work of someone intent on fixing the flaws in its predecessor. Paak’s tendency to supercharge the production for commercial appeal has been reined in. The sound centres around an appealingly stripped-down take on mid-70s Philly soul. The string arrangements are a little less plush and satiny, the rhythm tracks toughened up, but there’s plenty of pillowy electric piano, wah-pedal guitar, softly cooed backing vocals and – a dead giveaway to its inspiration – appearances from the sitar-like guitar sound that decorates the Delphonics’ Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time) and the hits of the Stylistics. 

There are famous cameo appearances, among them Outkast’s André 3000, who contributes a verse to opener Come Home, parodying romcom-style wooing attempts: “I’ll show up on a little moped, with a little puppy – it’ll be fluffy.” But their contributions feel far less intrusive than on Oxnard, where they carried a hint of the sitcom special guest star walking through the door to a gale of applause. Even a figure such as Smokey Robinson is relegated to backing vocals, although his best attempts to blend into the scenery on Make It Better are slightly undone by what you might call the Mick-Jagger-on-You’re-So-Vain effect – once you notice his distinctive voice in the distance, it’s hard to focus on anything else. Best of all, Paak seems to have dialled down his penchant for clumsy, sexually charged lyrics. His horndog persona makes a mercifully brief appearance on Winner’s Circle and Chosen One, the latter a vaguely Prince-ish cocktail of slap bass and electronically treated vocals, but there’s nothing as excruciating as Oxnard’s fantasies about crashing a car while being fellated or the lesbian romps of a fictionalised Donald Trump lovechild. 

Instead, there are tightly written love songs and the occasional dab of social commentary. On Yada Yada, persons unknown are wittily admonished for “casually talking that global warmth as if the temperature didn’t blow out your perm”. Condemned by some critics as a nebulous, platitudinous form of protest, single King James seems to be an attempt to respond to black America’s continuing trauma with the kind of graceful reason and sense of hope that was the late Curtis Mayfield’s trademark: “We’ve been through it all, though it could be worse … there’s nothing new or sharp about the cutting edge.” Anger bubbles just below the surface – “when I finally took a knee, them crackers took me out the league” – but there’s a distinct hint of People Get Ready about its promise that current events are a stage on a journey to a better future: “What about the love? Coming with me / What about the labour? Coming with me.” 

Meanwhile, the episodic Reachin’ 2 Much lives up to its title by meandering on for six minutes and breaking out the scat vocals, but elsewhere Ventura is scrupulously trimmed of fat. There’s enough experimentation to make the album not seem like a mere pastiche of the past – Twilight offers a fantastic melding of pounding house beats, aged horn samples and lush harmonies. But the striking thing about the disc is something more prosaic. From Make It Better’s homage to Al Green to the closing What Can We Do?, a duet with the late Nate Dogg so sparkling it seems incredible that Paak is singing along with a recording of man who died eight years ago, the songs are great. The latter track ends not with a show-stopping finale, but on a shambolic, low-key note, Nate Dogg abandoning his vocal and suggesting the tape be erased. It feels like evidence that Ventura is a less ambitious and grandiose project than its predecessor. But it’s also a better and more satisfying album that plays to its author’s considerable strengths and skirts around his weaknesses. No need for mum to put her dukes up in defence this time around. 

Alexis Petridis / The Guardian

Urban Verbs ‎‎– Urban Verbs (1980)

Style: New Wave
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Warner Bros. Records, WEA

Tracklist:
1.   Subways
2.  The Angry Young Men
3.   Next Question
4.   Frenzy
5.   Ring-Ring (My Telephone's Talking)
6.   The Only One Of You
7.   Luca Brasi
8.   Tina Grey
9.  The Good Life

Credits:
Backing Vocals – Adverbs
Bass, Piano – Linda France
Drums, Percussion – Danny Frankel
Guitars, Written-By – Robert Goldstein
Producer – Mike Thorne
Synthesizers – Robin Rose
Vocals, Written-By – Roddy Frantz

Depeche Mode ‎– Construction Time Again (1983)

Style: Synth-pop
Format: CD, Vinyl, Cass.
Label: Sire, Mute, Orion

Tracklist:
01.   Love, In Itself
02.   More Than A Party
03.   Pipeline
04.   Everything Counts
05.   Two Minute Warning
06.   Shame
07.   The Landscape Is Changing
08.   Told You So
09.   And Then...
10.   Everything Counts (Reprise)

Credits:
Producer – Daniel Miller, Depeche Mode
Written-By – Alan Wilder, Martin Gore

When Depeche Mode released their 3rd album (Construction Time Again, 1983) it proved to be a crucial point in the bands history. Right from the first track, 'Love, In Itself' the groups sound is immediately more dense with countless bleeping sound effects and samples exploding away in the background, accompanied by the richest, catchiest synth the boys had yet deployed (as opposed to the melancholic, almost minimalist tunes found on 'A Broken Frame').  

Also, Alan Wilder became a full-time member of the band (previously he had only joined them on their 1982 tours), which seemed to propel Depeche's creativity far beyond anything they had done so far as a trio (after Vince Clark left in 1981). Being the only trained musician in the band, his skill can be heard everywhere on the album - his sharp arrangement skills and heavy use of samples enabled the band to create a rich, thick synthetic sound that they would later develop into their trademark dark boom, in just a couple of albums time. 

The aforementioned 'Love, In Itself' is a genuinely good synth-pop tune, with a straight-up catchy main riff and lots of nice touches, such as the change from synth to piano for a brief moment at the tail end of the song, and the subtle twinkling to be heard behind Dave's much improved vocals. The improvement in vocals is carried across to 'More Than A Party' - probably the first time we hear Dave's voice in all its familiar baritonal, echoed glory, even if he is singing pointless lyrics like "Keep telling us we're here to have fun - then take all the ice cream so we've got none".  

'More Than A Party' aside, Martin's song writing has improved a great deal. The cynical lyrics found in 'Everything Counts' and 'Told You So' are a clear hint of the dark, personal songs Gore would later write, although you wont hear any darkness in these two tunes (which surprisingly turns out to be their biggest strength). 'Told You So' is a cynical look at religion with Dave's fierce roaring of "Everybody’s waiting for judgement day - so they can go I told you so", oddly running over the top of the most danceable beat on the album. The wierd mix of dark lyrics and upbeat synth ends up being one of the highlights of 'Construction Time Again'. 

'Everything Counts' takes a paranoid view of the music business or capitalism in general, with lines like "the graph on the wall, tells the story, of it all". It becomes ironic when matched with, perhaps the most upbeat, jolly tune Depeche have ever made, with metallic scrapings, countless miniscule synth bleeps and buzzes and a trumpet wailing in the background (or at least a synthesised version of the instrument), all melding into one.  

The metallic noises found on tracks like 'Everything Counts' (but found throughout CTA, floating in the background of most tracks) are more fully explored in the experimental 'Pipeline'. This is pure industrial noise with hammers banging, metal clattering and other manufactured noises flickering in and out of rhythm in the background, married to chain-gang like vocals from the band. It stands as an all important sign that Depeche weren’t afraid to experiment with their sound, and also an indication of what they would do next. 

There are a couple of dark tracks to be found in 'Shame' and 'Two Minute Warning', with the former featuring a muddy sounding melody that moves at snail-pace and desperate lyrical shouts of "it all seems so stupid - it makes me want to give up". 'The Landscape Is Changing' is one of the more pretentious moments on 'Construction Time Again' with its eco-warrior lyrics. Its one of only two lyrics written by Wilder on this record - the other being 'Two Minute Warning', a gloomy look at the possibility of nuclear apocalypse (almost inevitable for any early 80’s band) with a funky beat and aggressive vocals from Gahan. 

Things started coming together for Depeche Mode on this album - the mould hadn't fully set yet, but the blueprint for brilliance had - a blueprint that contained Dave's improving vocals and live star power, Martin's first steps into writing meaningful lyrics, and Wilder's technical capability.  

Their sound would come to full fruition on their next album, 'Some Great Reward', but what we have here are a set of rich synth tunes full of overlapping samples and sound effects, an essential DM track in 'Everything Counts', and a few other worthy contenders - 'Told You So', 'Love, In Itself' and the interesting, industrial experiment 'Pipeline'. Overall, its a fairly consistent effort with enough worthwhile moments to warrant a listen and makes for an optimistic expirence for fans, as Depeche take a decent-sized step in the right direction. 

Tom93M / sputnik music

The Sa-Ra Creative Partners ‎– Nuclear Evolution: The Age Of Love (2009)

Style: Broken Beat, Soul, RnB/Swing, Future Jazz, Neo Soul, Funk
Format: CD, Vinyl
Label: Ubiquity

Tracklist:
01.   Spacefruit
02.   Dirty Beauty
03.   I Swear
04.   Melodee N'Mynor
05.   He Say She Say
06.   Traffika
07.   Souls Brother
08.   Bitch Baby
09.   Love Czars
10.   Gemini's Rising
11.   The Bone Song
12.   White Cloud
13.   Move Your Ass
14.   Love Today
15.   Can I Get U Hi?
16.   My Star
17.   Cosmic Ball
18.   Spaceways Theme
19.   Just Like A Baby
20.   Double Dutch (Co Co Pops)
21.   Death Of A Star (Supernova)
22.   Powder Bump
23.   Hanging By A String

While they have worked on several other records and even dropped their own record with 2007's The Hollywood Recordings, Erykah Badu's New Amerykah Part One (4th World War) is what springs to mind whenever I hear about Sa-Ra Creative Partners. The trio's magnificent work on tracks like "Me", "The Cell", "Twinkle", and others was impressive and helped mold new territory for Ms. Badu. Whether fans loved or hated the change in her sound, they would be hard-pressed to deny how sonically gorgeous that record was. And one would hope that same sound would transfer to Sa-Ra's latest, Nuclear Evolution: The Age of Love. Musically, the group continues breaking ground and solidifying itself as a powerhouse. Unfortunately, that only remains true in the sonic regions of the record, which are weighed down by mundane, in-your-face sexuality. 

The issue plaguing this record is actually one that rears its head frequently in the realm of modern R&B and soul. Gone are the days of subtlety where, yes, it was implied you were singing to a lady who you would hope to have breakfast with the next morning. But instead of implications, you have straightforward suggestions, such as on the otherwise smooth-as-butter "The Bone Song". That track in particular, as its title indicates, is the greatest criminal in the case of overt sexuality, which you can hear dispersed all over the record. 

Also, while the vocals primarily complement the erratic production well, they do have a tendency to get lost in the mix as the album plays. At first it doesn't appear that will be the case. Sa-Ra kick things off with the Latin-infused, dance-party "Spacefruit", which features Debi Nova assisting with crooning in both Spanish and English. And, similarly, Ms. Badu graces "Dirty Beauty" with her gorgeous throaty vocals for the otherworldly space jam. Tracks of this breed, however, are too few and far between. And when Sa-Ra's Om'Mas Keith, Taz Arnold, and Shafiq Husayn handle the duties on the mic, you are left craving more Nova, Badu, or, at least, a male vocalist with better range. Actually, since they do mesh well with their music, the men of Sa-Ra would be more palatable had they at least given more thought to the lyrics. 

Where these three galactic producers shine is in their, well, production. Almost every joint on here, especially those aforementioned tracks, is an experimental hip-hop/R&B head's wet dream. The trio incorporates the crunchy drums of Flying Lotus on album standout "Traffika". They get funky and smooth on the break-up track "Melodee N'Mynor", which features perfectly-mixed, low-laying horns for effect. Another highlight is the longest track on here in "Love Czars". At nearly eight minutes, one would assume the jazzy drums and tight bass would grow tiresome by the five-minute mark. But no, it's so infectious that when it ends, you will get entranced for another eight minutes when you play the song again. 

Tracks like "Traffika" and "Love Czars" are what make Sa-Ra's music both unique and enjoyable. These three guys are doing things that most R&B producers wouldn't either think of or even try if they imagined it. And while some songs, like the aforementioned standouts, are undoubtedly inaccessible to some listeners, they deserve to be heard by anyone who appreciates solid songwriting and experimentation. Even further, those alienated pop-R&B fans should at least give Sa-Ra a shot or two and take a break from the stale love anthems plaguing the radio. Note: That's not exactly a bash to the mainstream, because it's more than well known that R&B has been on a steady decline in the past decade with few exceptions. 

Obviously -- as we all know from their past work -- the three members of Sa-Ra are some talented cats. Their instrumentation and production is hands down phenomenal at times. They have an innate ability to take sounds associated with the likes of Prince, Flying Lotus, and J Dilla, smash it all together, and then lay it down for funk-driven ear candy. But their skills behind the boards aren't enough to accelerate their disappointing lyrics and fitting, but average vocals. 

Andrew Martin / popMATTERS