one self - blue bird
second track to be lifted from the forthcoming one self album (featuring dj vadim, yarah bravo, blu rum b), where the first single, 'be your own', took a few spins to get accustomed to the jittery stop start beat, there is no such issue with this one. lead track is a slice of smooth laid back hip hop perfection crafted out of a scratchy samples, 70's rock guitar licks and Isaac hayes funk, when the hook hits then you just know that you have heard one of the best track of the year. the soul action combined with the street raps may rise concerns that this is a spin on the current r-n-b vs hip hop styles that flood the airwaves, however one self have found their own style that avoids any of the modern plastic sheen. also, when the extra tracks are as tight and interesting as this then i cannot overstate how great an ep this is. firstly 'fear the labour' involves dubbed up sitars, bass booms and looped vocal sample hook that backs the words just makes me go all gooey .. cannot describe how much i like these 5 minutes, which is followed by a revocaled version involving a spanish take on the hip hop groove.
damn, if the album is all as good as these tracks then it's headed straight for my end of year list.
one can only hope.