Recently bought DJ Cam's Underground Vibes. Why have I been sleeping on this one????? This is definitely one of the better albums I've ever bought. Here's my take:
I don't know if anyone else feels this way, but there are certain producers who have a certain feel for beat production (or maybe they all just use the same beats) that just has a certain hard but smooth, ass-kicking amazingly huge mind-warping hip hop flavor. Example: Attica Blues' remix of BluePrint; DJ Shadow/DJ Krush Duality; Portishead; Wagon Christ's "Rexcist". They make me go mmmmmmmmmm. Acts that don't have it (but are still impressive): Funki Porcini; 9 Lazy 9, etc. When I get an album that satisfies me in this way, I'm totally happy, my enthusiasm for electronic music is renewed, and I listen to it a lot.
Second point: There is too much (insert term for sample-based hip-hop oriented electronic music here) that just does not have any jazz in it. This is why reviewers started drawing the line on what they called acid jazz and coined our favorite terms to hate. When I first found acid jazz (and quickly thereafter this list), I found it through artists such as Groove Collective, Ronny Jordan, and other accomplished acts who have really made live danceable jazz a reality. Unfortunately, good current bands of this nature who do not make vocal tracks are a rarity (I can't stand vocals for the most part). But I quickly found Greyboy: somebody who pulls it off, electronic/live interplay, the sampled beat and the blowing sax; and the requisite amount of funk. A couple of Buckshot LeFonque songs too. There's others, but not enough. Furthermore, unless you're a good producer and composer like greyboy, the nature of the two elements at force in a sampled beat/horn track are fairly i!
ncompatible; a lot of the other attempts sound just like, well, a horn blowing over a looped track. Boring.
DJ Cam's release is one of the few CDs that can shut me up about all of my gripes. Jazz samples, lots of vibes, no horns, and most importantly, GREAT BEATS. The album is consistent from beginning to end, his style is quite apparent and it's infectious. It's very tough to describe instrumental albums more than this, but this is one of the more original, fresh, releases to date, and if you consider all the possible things you can do with a sampler and beats, and how much material released is not all that complex and furthermore often imitation, you can appreciate when somebody can put out an album that fills the necessary gaps in our sonic spectrum and does it with an barely heard, but fully felt, exclamation point.
Favorite song: dieu reconnaitra les siens
Label: street jazz records (anybody have info?)
id# cam cd 004 (vinyl also available)
Jay B