NICK NACK

"Mustard Seed" & "Skipless Turntable Treats" b/w "Salt Of The Eart" & "In Hind Sight"

Crowd Control

First impressions are quite often the most important. This is especially true when when it comes to records.

For real, any dj worth their weight in promotional vinyl will tell you that the first couple seconds of a record is what grabs them. If I drop the needle into the groove of a record and don't hear something that makes me want to stay my hand from skipping to the next track, or worse yet just taking the record off, then it's not worth my time. In that case it's probably gonna go to the back of my collection to maybe be listened to some other time, if it's lucky, but more than likely just to collect dust. And if it's something being listened to at the store, forget about it, it's back to the bin it was found in for some idiot with shittier taste than I to be sorry he bought at a later date.

So like I said, it's all about that initial reaction. That goes for a dj deciding what records they're going to buy or spin and it should go just as well for anybody, dj or not, who has been burdened with the task of reviewing records too, right? Right. And it just so happens that this dj/reviewer's initial reaction to Nick Nack's "Mustard Seed" 12'' the first time he dropped the needle on it was to loudly exclaim "OH SHIT this is fresh!" before picking up the tonearm, dragging it back to the beginning and starting the rotating platter of dopeness again. Yes, the record is fresh. And yes, fresh, that oft maligned slang word we used back in the day before most of you reading this were born, much less even knew what hip-hop was, is just the right expression to use to describe the sounds on the disc.

Blending samples and live instruments together seamlessly Nick Nack emerges here as one of the few real purveyors of a new jazz. A jazz that's not cold and academic or watered down, but one that hearkens back to the great soul-jazz and funky-jazz fusion of artists like Donald Byrd and Roy Ayers while staying rooted in hip-hop. If it wasn't built on sampling itself and had been recorded back in the 70's people would be sampling this shit right now. This is authentic in a way that projects like Buckshot Lefonqe and Guru's 'Jazzamatazz' often weren't, beautiful, musical, danceable and rugged all at once. This is jazz for the city streets, the smoky clubs, the dancefloor and the whip. This is summer people! It's plants growing, birds chirping, kids running down the street and all that shit. It's the sun hitting your face. The cool night breeze on your arm. And a nice rain to clean everything off after getting all hot and sticky on a humid day. It's fresh and clean and new and oh so body movingly dope. Word up, this is music that you can lounge to, that you can dance to, scratch to, rhyme to and even sing to. It's hip-hop that's not afraid to be music. And it does it all without being corny or contrived.

So was my first impression of this record a good one? Umm, yeah, I think so.

The lead off track "Mustard Seed" is built on samples of dreamy strings and synth swells, a bumpin' kick & rimshot combo and a rolling acoustic bass groove which keeps everything moving until some live horns courtesy of Ephraim Owens and Mike Malone come in and lay down some mellow accompaniment before soloing all over the track. Towards the end of the joint there's a turntable solo of sorts as Nick comes through with some live cuts before the bass brings everything to a close.

Track two is just what the title "Skipless Turntable Treats" implies, a collection of sound bites designed for djs to cut and scratch. If that's your sort of thing I can't see you being disappointed.

But wait, 'cause if you flip the wax over there's even more listening pleasure to be had!

First the b-side hits us with "Salt Of The Earth" which is all Rhodes chords, warm bass, handclaps and twiddling flutes with the occasional swell of a string section, perfect for a late night two-step.

Then there's "In Hind Sight" which takes things in an almost disco influenced direction with twinkling piano samples over an upbeat stuttering one-two drum track and live funk bass which is blessed something lovely by Ephraim Owens on the trumpet once again as well as the crooning of Meriah Garrett who offers up the disc's lone vocal contribution. This is another dancefloor stepper that should be getting love from a diverse ammount of djs out there.

Plain and simple, this record is perfect. It reminds me of those summers spent buying 3rd Bass, K.M.D., Cypress Hill, Brand Nubian and Leaders Of The New School records as a teen and those more recent ones spent in dusty used record stores searching out rare soul, funk and jazz sides. Better yet though, it makes me look forward to a hot summer night sometime in the near future spent in a cool, dark nightclub lounging to hip-hop, house, soul, downtempo, nu & acid jazz, old school breaks, rare grooves and club classics when a young dj who happens to be in the know will drop the new Nick Nack record he copped earlier that day on a wide eyed trip to the record store making me hit the dancefloor to get down with abandon.

THE STRANGE FRUIT PROJECT

"All The Way" b/w "Maintain ( Liquid Mix )"

Kajmere

Summertime, and the livin' is easy. At least that's how it's supposed to be right? A whole season that's all lazy, hazy days spent listening to the best music the industry has to offer. Whether it's chilling on the stoop with the boom-box, walking in the park with the headphones on, rolling through the sweltering streets in the whip with the system on blast or lounging and dancing at that dark sweat-box of a nightspot, music and summer just go hand in hand. This tradition has been helped along by the fact that historically the record labels have waited until the warmer months to push their biggest and often enough best projects onto the entertainment starved populace.

So, based on our memories of glorious music filled summers past we as listeners often have high expectations for those special tunes that just seem to have the words "summer jam" written all over 'em. As we've gotten older and a little more jaded with the music industry, commercial radio and video outlets though it seems like the number of "summer jams" that manage to weave themselves into the fabric of our consciousness every year dwindles. Still, no matter how bad radio and video get or to what low levels of gimmicky commercialization the majority of the major label's output sinks to there's always bound to be that handful of perfect summer tunes, more often than not emerging from some previously unknown corner of the music world, we somehow find ourselves coming across and falling in love with in the process. And this summer is no exception, thanks in part to the Texas based Strange Fruit Project and their glorious slab of summertime chillout funk "All The Way."

I was lucky enough to hear about The Strange Fruit Project last year when group member Kevin "Myth" Gaither sent me their then current self-released 12'' "Luv Is." The song was a soulful breath of fresh hip-hop air and I championed it big time, giving it heavy radio play and showcasing it on the first volume of the Urban Alternatives mixtape series. I was excited that the crew seemed to continue making moves, gearing up to release more music and even appearing in a gum commercial, but was disenchanted by the fact that more heads didn't seem to be catching on to this dope new crew and their unique soul and jazz influenced hip-hop sound.

Already being a fan you can guess that I was ecstatic when I got a brand new professionally pressed 12'' from the group in the mail a couple weeks ago. And just to let you know, I call attention to the fact that it was professionally pressed not to dis the quality of their previous material but to praise the unbelievably high quality of their product this go round. The packaging is fantastic with a really tight design and fresh color scheme, something that a lot of underground hip-hop records rarely possess. And the pressing of the record itself is incredible with a clean, clear mix that is LOUD and bass heavy, engraved on heavy duty solid vinyl not one of those floppy ass plastic records you're used to. It just feels like a real record, something you'll keep for a long time and cherish for it's artistic merit and manufacturing quality as well as the dopeness of the music it contains.

And the music is dope, no two ways about it.

The a-side's "All The Way" is a laidback groover that's moved along by strains of piano and strings, jazzy guitar noodling, an ass moving bass groove and neck snapping drum programming that recalls the work of A Tribe Called Quest, Jay-Dee and The Roots while establishing it's own standard of originality and excellence. The chorus features the Strange Fruit crew crooning and harmonizing smoothly about how they came to "go all the way" and make their listeners feel "good inside" before kicking simple but eloquent rhymes about how they hope to touch souls with their music and make a better day even if they get hated on for doing so. The effect of all this together is one of sheer musical elegance, but one nurtured by a world of turntables, crates and rhyme ciphers rather than elite music academy's and exclusive nightclubs as the crew has managed to create downright beautiful music that's still gutter enough to rattle the trunk of the whip or shake hips on the dancefloor.

The b-side features the previously available "Maintain" in a newly remixed form. Not much has been changed between the version of "Maintain" that appeared on the "Luv Is" 12'' and the one heard here. It's still a dope lounge-back groove replete with a dusty piano loop, deep bass, snappy drum programming and dreamy chimes over which the crew rhymes and once again sings smoothly about maintaining composure in this crazy world, but this time the hook and intro are accentuated by fresh vocal samples that weren't on the original. The song was already tight to begin with and the new mix definitely hasn't done anything to diminish that fact.

The Strange Fruit have evidently set out to free minds and touch souls with their music and in "All The Way" with it's throw your hands in the air to elevate your mind bravado and live music based soulful funk soundscape I think they just might have proven themselves capable of doing just that. If enough listeners would just turn on to these Texans unique blend of soulful style, jazzy sensibilities, classic musicianship, crate-dug hip-hop production techniques and intelligent but easy to understand lyrics delivered in a personable and conversational flow we could be in for a headnod revolution of spiritual proportions.