BONGOS, BLEEPS AND BASSLINES
(Ninja Tune, 2006)

Musical martial artists Ninja Tune have bagged another goodie with this summer’s underground uptake on all things Latino. Zero dB’s debut album with the leftfield specialists, hosts a bastardized family of genres that add the much needed depth and breadth to your discrete music collection.

Not being one for issuing statements on musical fusion, I would be left with very little to say if I stood by my ill-judged principles as the album contains enough genres to spend an afternoon listing them. Thankfully, your pen-pal has taken on the banal task so you can reel them off whenever the situation sees fit.

Starting with ‘a pomBa girou’ (no, the capital B isn’t a typo) we have a bevy of styles jostling for position including jazz, Latino beats and spats of dirty electronic bass. Signature track ‘Bongos, Bleeps and Basslines’ gives jazz band top hat snared with bongo rhythms and some saxophone to boot.

The haute-musicians behind this tongue-twisting are Chris Vogado and Neil Combstock, who have been delivering this eclectic sound in clubs for 6 years now. With the general feel of the album leaning towards the club side, one would think ‘anything is possiBle’, had snuck in to spoil the party. But nevertheless, this soulful hip hop rendition seems to blend with the rest of the album nicely providing a musical oasis in this funky-house-based sea.

By Matt Hussey