Jamie Smith of the XX is quickly establishing himself as one of the most diverse and innovative producers in the game. His latest effort remixes Gil Scott Heron’s much lauded and critically acclaimed album ‘I’m New Here’. Throughout the 13 tracks he marries a variety of genres and samples but impressively still leaves you with the feeling that they are part of the same organism. You also quickly get a sense of the fun he is having on tracks such as ‘I’m New Here’ where he juxtaposes the vocals from Heron’s title track and Gloria Gaynor’s ‘Casanova Brown’ and plays it like a conversation between two people meeting for the first time, or the cheeky nod to Rui Da Silva’s 2001 hit ‘Touch Me’, which has clearly inspired the rhythmic crux for ‘Ur Soul and Mine’.
(Also, check Jamie XX’s steel pan remix of Touch Me which is bound to find a release in time for the summer.)
If there’s a downside to the album, it’s that the interludes are begging to be developed into something more and while they may be in keeping with Heron’s original vision they stunt the flow of the album as a whole. However, of the 13 tracks 8 of them are killer and definitely worth seeking out.
Top 3 Picks…
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Running
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Ur Soul and Mine
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I’ll Take Care of You
Go here and buy it… now. Word(s).
It’s Been a long time…
…I shouldn’t have left you. Nope, not talking about Eric B and Rakim, though i will be shortly. We’re back from an early year hiatus. I could give you a bullshit excuse, i could say we’ve been busy… the real reason is i just couldn’t be bothered. I became bored of music for a bit, but no more!
Expect to hear all sorts of hip hop and house music posted up in the next few weeks. for now though i want to share with your my boy Chamboché! He’s doing what he does best and i believe this to be his best production to date. Really nice!
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