From the opening "Pyramid", a smile comes to the face and you know you will enjoy this upbeat, dreamy but ultimately fun-loving album. Yes this is trip hop, but not in the cliched use of the phrase, just a good old-fashioned mixture of breaks and melodies, driven by great bass and keyboard programming. There are touches of Aka Bilk in there as well as some Latin inspired piano scales, and some Duke Ellington horns thrown as well in a classical scat-style. Music to wake up and smile to. Great !! "Thread #1" is more of the usual vocal insert sample that many trip hop and breaks artists insist on putting in (a bit like Kid Koala). "Cream" continues with a smooth mellow horn-led tune - not too loud, but very deep brassy sounds. Very 1950-1960's sounding jazz audiophonics here, with scratched laughing thrown in too. "Istanbul" is a 1960's kitsch Beach Boys organesque trip to somewhere oriental, with a very Jewish Clarinet top line. But it works, it really works. Very out-there and almost Vangelis like, when the strings and pianos come in. Phew... "Company B-Boy" is shameful. Basically think of Jive Bunny. "Champagne Flute" is more like it again, a solid recovery back to a mix of Shirley Bassey vocals and cosy 1970's flutes. The undertones of "Go Go Killer" are very reminiscent of John Barry's "Music for Guitar and Violin". But all the same such music could be filler music in any good Bond film - not crass but quality good music that is."Dreamer" is a John Barry / Red Snapper / DJ Shadow / Funki Porcini hybrid, that I originally heard mixed with Captain Beefheart by DK from Coldcut. The trumpets and harpischord progressions are unmistakeably Barry, with the vocal samples in the same dreamlike sense as Funki Porcini. "Ecoutez-moi" is also similarly inspired by slow-mo low-fi 70's detective agency insert music - but with an edge of harmonies Lemon Jelly would be proud of.
The other tracks are so so, until you get to "25". A tale of two pieces of music, with the start of the last track sounding like a Carly Simon / Mary Chapin Carpenter soliloquoy about the number 25 which fades out to silence...for a few minutes. Listen and keep listening. And then hits you about 80% from the end of the track, a superbly crafted "Mr and Mrs Tick Tock" storytime and slap-bass led tune (much like The Herbaliser).
If you can find on one of the tracks, there is a sample / resample of the top line riff from the 1970's "The Saint" series (which starred Ian Ogilvy as Simon Templar).
This album makes you think of films and shows from the last 35 years - although its not nostalgic at all. What we have here is a series of golden Threads :) that run through the tracks that are only discernible to those with a keen ear or those who want to be inspired by melodies.
Reveiw: Amazon.co.uk
