one self - children of possibility
at last.
this is exactly the type of album i have been wanting to soundtrack any appearance of sunshine in 2005.
the 'one self' collective comprises of dj vadim, yarah bravo, and blu rum 13, and between them they have crafted an album that blends gorgeous soul vibes, hip hop beats, dubbed up funk, and a ton of world music extras to create a perfect end result. basically, i suspect that after making lots of underground hip hop styled albums, this is vadim's shot at some serious chart action, so by using jazzy b's early 90's blueprint of soul 2 soul, as well as david holme's much missed free association set up, he has put together this exclusive gang where all manner of talent is blended and shaped into a very special whole. so, alongside vadims loops, there are the old school love and peace rap styles from mc blu rum (coming on like a lost daisy age hero), and the essential sweet harmonies provided by international songstress yarah (mother = chile, father = brazil. raised in sweden !).
if you haven't heard either of the singles, the unsteady flow of 'be your own', or the quite simply perfect 'bluebird' (i mean after listening to that song 100's of times in recent months - whenever that scratchy loop starts i still get a chill up the spine), then you are missing out. after years of digging in the crates, and fine tuning his turntable craft, dj vadim has managed to curtail his excessive jazz tendencies, hone in on the pop song, and really drive these songs to a natural conclusion. yet still managing to add some wonderfully cool and listenable experimental sonic twists and turns into the cut-n-paste mix - i mean check out the wonderfully diverse instrumental 'sd2' with african chants and electro sci-fi noises, all while breaking down into a sublime congo infused finale, then following this with the sampled funk cutup strings loops of 'paranoid' where blu rum spits it out on a track that originally grates, but, by the forth listen the track begins to hit home hard and fast. then, just as your head begins to need some soothing, in comes yarah with the central nervous system melt that is 'hollow human beings'. like i said - specail.
these kind of sonic clashes can sometimes make an album uneven, and sound like a shoddily put together compilation (like those old rhythm king dance albums in the first phase of uk dance - s'express/beatmasters/bomb the bass etc), but vadim has managed to make the album flow, so that the disparate styles actually compliment each other, thus making for a great mix-n-match laid back dance album that manages to sound fresh and current while coming on like an old school classic.
i aint going to go into a track by track run down, as highlights are spread throughout - but for me this is just a spot on album. one which provides me with a hip hop fix, a little bit of summer skank, a chunk of funk, dirty electro bass lines, and even a splice of bollywood and sitars.
love, peace and harmony never sounded so good.