| Peek at the back cover of this CD and you may end up slightly confused. The tracks listed have names like "15. Define Mix" and "21. 1st Song/Step", but far from being abstract work of po-faced glitch electronica, it's an album full of the warmth that is associated with the legendary SP-1200. Jel has pretty much used the SP for all his production work in the past few years, mostly working in the hip-hop underground making beats for fellow Anticon and Mush artists. It's basically a big black box with buttons, outmoded and superseded by today's technology (it only has ten seconds of sampling time and 12-bit sampling rate) but those that witnessed Jel in action at workshops he conducted as part of Sound Summit last year in Newcastle will testify to the fact that in his hands the box exudes a warmth and texture (and fatness) that is unmistakable (and virtually unreplicatable with modern technology). This is Jel's tribute to the SP, thus the song titles and album titles, and is filled with beats that either wander around languidly or nod heads rhythmically, but always have that crunchy as Anzac cookies texture. He also has a sense of humour and a love of seventies rock, a combination that hip-hop could do much worse than follow. - 3D World |
2XLP/Out Of Print