review

Album Review: They Shall Inherit - Menagerie

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They Shall Inherit - Menagerie

Tru Thoughts' latest album release comes from the prolific Australian producer and songwriter Lance Ferguson. He's best known for his work as Lanu and within the Bamboos but here he turns his hand to spiritual jazz. 

And it's the best thing he's ever done.

I used to be pretty into the nu-soul movement ten years ago whilst I was still at university - The Roots and the artists in ?uestlove's Okayplayer collective... Jill Scott and Erykah Badu all spent a lot of time in my minidisc player and D'Angelo's Voodoo remains the pinnacle of that sound in my eyes.

Ferguson takes us right back there, but not in a retrograde fashion. This sounds timeless and more real than much caught with the nu-soul label, D'Angelo aside - this sounds more modern and achingly old at once. As the appropriately monikored Menagerie, Ferguson plots an exploration of music and mood on They Shall Inherit. Just the opening title track feels big enough to be an album in itself, with it's looping, gradually evolving structure and dramatic spoken-word bridge. It's essentially jazz, with the Coltrane-inspired sax work to prove it, but this is warm and soulful enough to feel approachable despite its 12-minute duration.

The generosity demonstrated in the track-lengths on They Shall Inherit is thankfully balanced with remarkable restraint in their number - the album clocks in at 45-minutes over six tracks. Following that epic opening is the funkadelic bass of 'The Chosen', with vocals that form the music instead of dominate or direct it. This was a key aim of the project - to encompass the various parts (the Menagerie) equally as opposed to under the constraint of a more traditional band structure, with the exception of Fallon Williams' forthright and righteous vocals on 'The Quietening' the approach holds true

It's all glorious. 'Jamahlia' rides on speedy but gently brushed drums and loose, playful if again fast Thelonious Monk-esque piano playing. Roy Ayers himself provides a star-turn delivering his trademark vibes on 'Leroy And The Lion', which even plays with some jazz-guitar to great effect.

The only possible problem with this album is that all of Fergusson's other work pales in comparison. This is the real, starry-eyed deal - turn up the music and turn down the lights.

They Shall Inherit is released on 10 December through Tru Thoughts, available to pre-order on CD and CD & Vinyl box set on Amazon.co.uk [affiliate links]. Preview 'Leroy And The Lion' below:

EP Review: Lessons Learned - Milton Jackson

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Lessons Learned - Milton Jackson

The Lessons Learned EP from Milton Jackson comes out next week and whilst we should be heading into the pre-Christmas record release lull by now this interrupts that notion and is pretty good.

Milton Jackson, the pseudonym of Barry Christie, has been making electronic music since his debut on Soletronic's Tronicsole label in 2000. Over the years he has experiment with tech and house sounds and this latest EP is set to come out on the promising new label Black Key Records, who launched just last year.

The EP opens with the first of two original tracks - 'See The Light'. It's on the techy sound of house - looped synths and strings and a clipped vocal give this a slick, quality feel. A raw bass sound and early nineties drum machine offset that clean sound though to make something more compelling and soulful.

Retaining that same tech-meets-old-skool sound '5 Cities' ups the soul element with a soft melody. It's a nice blend of early UK and US garage - where dubstep was born out of the darker, more drum 'n' bass influenced sounds of garage this goes back to the birth of that sound, deep house, and it feels surprisingly fresh.

Andy Ash delivers the final track, a remix of '5 Cities' that stays true to the original - a subtly more spacious mix that maintains the original feel.

Lessons Learned is released next Monday through Black Key Records, preview the EP on Soundcloud below:

EP Review: The Hatch Series - Various Artists

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The Hatch Series is the first in a planned annual compilation series from DhARMA, a new label that has already impressed with a couple of their releases this year.

Made up of five tracks from five different artists it's a relatively eclectic set showcasing DhARMA's progressive approach to A&R. The EP opens with a blues-influenced IDM track from Kyson. There is a little hint of Nicolas Jaar to 'Drifting On By', with a soulful vocal and a slow, textured feel to the production work.

Atiko Misaki's 'Do You Remember Me' is all gentle piano chords and relaxed trumpet, pleasingly jazzy and left-field and even slower than the EP's opening. In contrast 'Midnight Travellers' by Tibalt is a little more upbeat, a striking gothic-electro-prog-opera piece. It may be a little less universal than Misaki's track but the pounding drum-set snares and eighties synths aren't without their charms.

Next up is Silly Rabbit with 'Subsonic Sunset'. It is a mildly Germanic glitch-pop piece, full of big ambient noises and synthetic drums but it never quite seems to get to its destination for me..

The EP is rounded out with 'Beta' by Skai Nine, and it's a pretty good summary of where DhARMA ultimately seem to have their heads as a label. It's experimental electronic music that manages to be greater than the sum of its parts, a whirling cacophony of gentle sounds that comes together to create a softly stuttering pop record. It concludes a short, interesting statement of intent with the first two tracks proving particularly enduring.

The Hatch Series is released on 1 October through DhARMA. Preview the release below through Soundcloud or pre-order from DhARMA here.