The Clifford Gilberto Rhythm Combination - I Was Young And I Needed The Money (Ninja Tune)

Squarepusher recently announced a new upcoming album, titled Just A Souvenir (out on Warp on October 27th, of 2008 - and already available via digital download on bleep). But on my first preview of the album, Tom Jenkinson seems to drift even further away from his original innovative broken beats and drill'n'bass, so dominated by the late 90s. Personally, I always applaud the efforts of an evolving artist, and Squarepusher deserves a whole separate hailing review (coming up next). But being nostalgic for that jazzy breaky genre, I dust off a copy of an overlooked album by Florian Schmitt, which cries out to be back in my rotations. Schmitt recorded only a single album for Ninja Tune back in 1998 under the lengthy pseudonym, The Clifford Gilberto Rhythm Combination. He also did a bunch of remixes later under Clifford Gilberto and his real name. But that was a decade ago, and since then, he's been pretty quiet. Nevertheless, the sound of his debut album, I Was Young And I Needed The Money, is fresh and upbeat, after all these years. I did not begin this write up with Jenkinson incidentally, though. Fans of Squarepusher, Amon Tobin, Cinematic Orchestra, µ-Ziq, and The Flashbulb will be absolutely delighted to hear the Schmitt's tracks for the first time, if they somehow missed the album when it first hit the streets. The sound fluctuates between melodic drum'n'bass (closer to a drilling jungle though, then a straight beat) and a jazzy trip-hoppy rhythms with Latin-flavored samples. The Gilberto reference in Schmitt's alias reveals his Brazilian jazz influence... maybe... His biography on Ninja Tune's site claims that he's "the unknown lovechild of Astrud Gilberto and Stan Getz", but Schmitt brings to the table much more than the musical genius of aforementioned influential bossa nova artists. Guaranteed to liven up your mood and get you to bop your head. And seriously, if you haven't heard this one, get it! Too many favorite tracks on that one to list.



ninjatune.net/gilberto | ninjatune.net

Wagon Christ - Tally Ho! (Astralwerks)

Hailing from Cornwall, England, Luke Vibert started his career early by releasing a debut album with Jeremy Simmonds on Richard D. James' Rephlex Records in 1993. He then moved on to Rising High Records releasing an ambient album Phat Lab Nightmare under an alias Wagon Christ. In 1996, Luke tried his hand at drill'n'bass with an alias Plug releasing Drum 'n' Bass for Papa on Blue Planet. Luke finally landed on Astralwerks - a Virgin Records owned New York label known for main stream electronic acts such as Basement Jaxx, The Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim, Future Sound of London and the likes. Tally Ho! is Vibert's sixth full length album (third under Wagon Christ moniker) to come out on Astralwerks in 1998. Luke's sound fits in nicely alongside the friends and artists that defined the late 90's electronica, such as Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, µ-ziq and Cylob. "Together they assimilated such diverse elements as hip hop beats and drum & bass into the more eccentric take on electronica they tweaked, and kick-started a virtual insurrection in sound around the world," notes journalist Andrez Bergen. Tally Ho! is a perfect example of more stylistic exploration under the electronica umbrella, where jungle meets trip-hop, and new genres emerge. The sound is upbeat, confident and playful at the same time. Luke's other notable aliases among the many are Kerrier District, Amen Andrews and Ace of Clubs with a deep discography on defining labels such as Warp, Ninja Tune and Planet-µ. In 2007 Luke collaborated with Jean-Jacques Perrey on Moog Acid project for Lo Recordings. I think I did more name-dropping in this review than talk about the music, but I trust you get the idea. Five stars for this one.

brainwashed.com/vibert | myspace.com/lukevibertdj
astralwerks.com | myspace.com/astralwerks

Flashback : Goldie - SaturnzReturn / Mother (ffrr)

Being lately in this nostalgic mood to take the flashbacks on music from years ago, I decided to dig back into my collection and dust off the double CD released by Clifford Joseph Price, aka Goldie, back in 1998, titled Saturnzreturn. When Price was just a kid, his father walked out on him and his mother. The one hour track, appropriately titled Mother was created by Price with the burning question - "why?" Here's Diane Charlemagne with her recognizable voice (think Inner City Life). Accompanied by violins, and other synthesized strings, the ambient pads swirl in a hypnotic pattern for over twenty minutes. I doubt that I've listened this far last time, and frankly, I'm totally captivated by the mode of the track. At twenty two minutes, high hats with high-pass filtered beats begin to ride in slowly with the sampled waves. I didn't even realize when the rolls came in, when suddenly [and finally] the bass drops and now I'm bopping my head to the beat of drum'n'bass. The return (and perhaps the landing) is a similar soft glide back into nothingness. I can barely remember this album, so I was very much surprised of how much ahead of its time it was. I recommend a revisit for all d'n'b headz!

myspace.com/goldiedrumsandbass