Peanut Butter Wolf - Lunar Props E.P. (2 Kool)
3 downtempo jazz/hip hop instrumentals in the vein of the early
DJ Food 'Jazz Brakes' series. i.e. more than breakbeats but not
quite fully fleshed out into full tracks. I think some of these
may have been released on his Peanut Butter Breaks LP but I don't
have a copy yet so I can't be sure. Backed with the Chronicles
from 'The Return of the DJ' LP plus instrumental. A cut-up journey
through some familar hip hop tracks of the last 10 years.
Excellent stuff.
Nightmares on Wax - Still Smokin' I and II (Warp)
Remixes from their 'Smokers Delight' LP from Mr Scruff, DJ Food
and Rae & Christian.
There is a dubby mix of one track (sorry I don't have the track
listings to hand) from Mr Scruff (with Shovell from M People on
percussion), a jungle mix of another from DJ Food, a vocal and
instrumental mix of Stars by the band themselves and a funky hip hop
mix of another from Fat City's Rae and Christian.
Good solid stuff but not really essential (check before buying) but
the Rae and Christian mix is guaranteed to make you jump about
like a mad thing or your money back - very funky.
Lewis Parker - B Boy Antics (Bite It!)
I have been looking for this for a couple of months and low and
behold someone mentions it on the list and 5 or 6 copies turn up
in my local stores bargain bin for 2 pounds each!
Just to reinforce what was said - very good rap E.P. with 5 vocal
tracks and 5 instrumentals (4 of which are the same songs) and
highly recommended.
Not recommended at all however is :
Tortoise - Music For Workgroups E.P. (City Slang)
Sorry to be negative but I was very disappointed by this. Two tracks
remixed by Oval (hardly an E.P. to begin with) which don't do a thing.
I have yet to pick up their albums but I was very impressed by their
last 12". However this is just a couple of tracks of background noise.
Maybe I'm just missing my beats and my demands for an actual tune
might be just a bit much but I am very picky.
If anyone else had heard this and their albums could you tell me if
this E.P. is a good representation of their work.
(I must admit that I haven't given it a good listen so you may want
to check it out but do listen to it beforehand before parting with
your money. This is just my personnel view and I've heard so much
good things about this band that it might just be my taste that is
off.)
Some of my other recent purchases not related to this list but very
good nevertheless and worth seeking out include
Local Zero : Airbag (Filter) The best jungle offering yet from Kid
Loops on Dorado's dance label.
Req : Miracles (Ultimate Dilemma) The latest release from the graf
artist on the Runaways (2/3 of RPM) label continuing his low-fi
trip hop weirdness after an excellent debut on Skint records,
(I can't remember if anyone mentioned the Runaways E.P. which came
out a few months ago but it was very good. If you liked RPM then
you'll love it.)
A Tribe Called Quest : 1nce Again (Jive) Don't believe what you
hear, this is top notch stuff. Ranks amongst their best in my
opinion.
Sorry again for anything not related to the list and my negative
comments - I do try to only mention records that I really like but
I had to get that out of my system and find out what other people
think.
Colin.