For me, a sign that I’m hooked is when a chunk of music becomes my go-to album under any and all circumstances. For the past two weeks, I’ve been playing Six Degrees of Separation once a day, usually first thing in the morning. And that’s another sign. First thing in the morning. It means, “I like everything else less”. I don’t know what the music literati call this; maybe drum & bass, hard dub? In any case, when I win my millions and get to pimp out my Lamborghini roadster with a smokin’ sound system, I’ll be cranking this album to eleven on my first trip down the highway, grooving, then weeping that it’s only an EP.

“I keep thinking how music very often tries to answer questions, like you get that last note, it’s a nice resolution and it’s all over. Isn’t it much more interesting that music behaves like doors opening that invite you and ask questions of you, and sort of has a dialogue with the audience as opposed to a dictatorship imposing its answers on to you, imposing what you are supposed to feel.”

Hans Zimmer
from IrishTimes.com

I’ve been wanting to post something about this album for a while now. If you like The Avalanches, if you like squeaky little (Jackson Five-ish) retro soul voices and bopping 60′s female choruses adding lightness to a deep (but not dark) funk groove, you gotta check this out. For the last couple of months, this has been at the top of my playlist. My only problem with this CD is that I play it too much. Please, sir, can I have some more?

OK, this album feels like a guilty pleasure to me. Why? Because I play it every day. It’s become one of my go-to albums for a dependable groove. I don’t know how you feel about dub in general, but if you like non-sparse, yet non-complex trippy music, then this beastie is for you. And the guy who did it, Rafael Hernandez, is Mexican. You can’t get more Jamaican than that, mon. Curry goat in a burrito, a doobie and an infinite delay. Sounds like a party to me.

If you like Bonobo, this album will please you mightily. I’m scribbling about this today because yesterday I was wandering around in a fog with a trippy tune in my head lamenting the fact that I couldn’t remember where I’d heard it. During my hour of woeful lamentation, I tried to face the daunting task of pouring through my library, sampling tracks I thought might fit the tone of my ‘head piece’. The more I grooved on the tune, the more frustrated I became. What the hell? Was I getting alzheimer’s? And then I remembered it was Bonobo, from their new album. Oh, Happy Days!

Like all their previous works, (Days to Come, Dial ‘M’ for Monkey, Animal Magic), this one’s worth every penny. Being a total music snob, I feel completely justified when there are artists out there that create works of this calibre. Not too bright, not too dark, not too loud, not too quiet. This is composed music that could rival any jazz standard. No one needs be embarrassed by this being ‘mere’ pop, so sophisticated is the musicality and execution.

Sorry, I don’t mean to give a review, just a whole-hearted recommendation. Buy this thing. You’ll love it. And maybe you’ll be grooving on it one day with no stereo or iPod in sight, and come to thank me.

The first order of business has been addressing the inconsistency of the third track with the rest of the album. It was a mix of wannabe classical and percussive bombast. In the past few days, I’ve completely gutted the piece and started from scratch. It’s now one synth pad, udu and drum kit with dub-style guitar fx and it may end up with more instruments as needed.

So far, so good. I am a bit worried that this freaking project is taking so long. I console myself with the fact that I’m the guy who has to put his name on it in the end and I know when I’m satisfied with a track. Besides, why put more crap out there?