One of the prime architects of the organic grooves later dubbed
trip-hop
,
Nightmares on Wax
deserted their early formula in 2002 only when it became respectable and a crossover appeared most likely. With the air cleared of
downtempo
cash-ins, producer
George Evelyn
and producer/keyboardist
Robin Taylor-Firth
went right back to
dub
-heavy
with
In a Space Outta Sound
. Unsurprisingly,
remain among the best at constructing simple grooves with endless depths; their only rival is
Massive Attack
. The centerpiece is
"Damn,"
seven and a half minutes of gently undulating
hip-hop
courtesy of a reedy
Al Hirt
sample (familiar from its use by
De La Soul
) that eventually flowers into an
R&B
jam with a
gospel
choir. The other highlight is the hypnotic
rocksteady
groove of
"Flip Ya Lid"
with vocals from
Ricky Rankin
. As with past
NoW
releases,
boasts an emphasis on sound architecture that requires expensive stereo equipment (or bucket loads of narcotics) to fully appreciate. ~ John Bush