As
hip-hop
becomes the universal catch phrase for anything with drums (and even some music without drums), this exceptionally large San Francisco group -- led by composer/multi-instrumentalist
Greg Howe
and featuring any and all combinations of 12 drummers, hitters, string players, horn blowers, and computer programmers -- is insistent on pushing the
definition as far as possible. The dark and moody film
soundtrack
style of
"Coming of Wage"
?
Hip-hop
. The hyperactive
jazz
break and horn skronk of
"Off-Kilter"
. The slow-dancing French coo of vocalist
Nathalie Sanchez
on
"Je Me Souviens"
? Yup, you guessed it,
. Truth is, this album isn't that horribly different than what U.K. labels like
Mo' Wax
and
Ninja Tune
have been insisting is
for a decade, only someone finally has the gall to call it such without some quirky "
trip-hop
" tag. One guesses the main point is that you can envision some adventurous
DJ cutting on any one of these dozen selections between some
Jay-Z
pomp or
Lil Jon
crunk. Or, at least it sure would be nice if some DJ out there would do just that.
used to mean one thing; now it means all things. Some fear that might dilute the cause. But if more "
" sounded like
dissent
, the movement would be stronger than ever. ~ Joshua Glazer