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Barnes and Noble

Wrong Side of Town

Current price: $25.99
Wrong Side of Town
Wrong Side of Town

Barnes and Noble

Wrong Side of Town

Current price: $25.99

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A keyboardist/producer/composer based in the U.K.,
Joe Armon-Jones
is a member of the Mercury Prize-winning jazz-hop outfit
Ezra Collective
. That's only one of his musical identities, however.
Armon-Jones
is active in scenes ranging from jazz and hip-hop to garage and dub reggae. The latter offers the prime musical focus for his
Wrong Side of Town
EP, issued on the musician's
Aquarii
label. The approach is decidedly old-school (digital dub productions have seldom sounded this organic) on the 12" vinyl's four tracks. The A-side features a lead vocal by
Hak Baker
. A London-based singer, writer, and rapper, his Caribbean roots are primary: His mother is Jamaican, his father Grenadian.
' is flanked here by a top-shelf cast. The rhythm section pairs journeyman bassist
Luke Wynter
with
Black Midi
drummer
Morgan Simpson
,
bandmate
James Mollison
, and
Nubya Garcia
on saxophones. Oh, yes, and lots of reverb and echo chamber.
The set-opening A-side finds
Baker
alternatively rapping and chanting atop a steamy dubwise progression from
' organ and electric piano, which are buoyed by the rhythm section. The horns float in behind as
starts to relate a lyric expression concerning circumstances of dispossession, inequality, struggle, resistance, and life in the street. The dark, steamy, four-minute groover is expanded on the vinyl with the instrumental "Dub Side of Town." "Nubya's Side of Town" is led by the popular bandleader and tenor saxophonist. She delivers the melody with her trademarked glorious tone in harmonic phrasing that references the legendary dub saxophonist
Deadly Headley
, even as she integrates Eastern modes, post-bop, and R&B into her slow, winding, delivery framed by
' wafting organ, rocksteady drums, and
Wynter
's constant, pulsing bass throb. Closing instrumental "Wrong Side of the Rhodes" offers a knotty contrapuntal intro between
and the rhythm section. He begins circling around a phrase that eventually transforms into a quote from the refrain of
Classics IV
's "Spooky." In his wonderful solo, he employs striking arpeggios, lithe chord voicings, and elegantly syncopated phrasing.
Simpson
shifts, adding a Latin tinge to the beat as
stays grounded with the vamp and changes. While almost always unpredictable,
is remarkably consistent in his dedication and musical application in each project. As such,
is no exception: it's dark, deep, dubby. and full of delightful surprises. ~ Thom Jurek

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