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Setting the tone in a brilliant way for an entire disc worth of
excitement, the quirky blips and sliding beeps of The Postal Service’s
rendering of “Little Girl Blue” by Nina Simone opens this collection, the
third installment of the collaborative efforts created by DJs from the tapes
of historical Jazz figures. A mix of archaic yet truly classic Jazz vocal
tunes have been given that clubby, dubby edge, with “Fever” by Sarah Vaughan
being given the Freeland touch, turning it upside down and on its head with
a monstrous Breakbeat and enough lower-bottom bass-heavy keyboard lines to
make a monkey poop (and me smile). Not detracting from any of the originals, and leaving a good portion of all the vocals in place, these eclectic
interpretations are a great primer for both the un-Jazz-ucated, and the
serious clubber needing a break from all the carnival-like music ringing in
his or her head. Honorable Mention Award here goes to Tom Findlay of Groove
Armada who funks up Shirley Horn’s “Come Dance With Me” in his typical
‘future/retro with a twist of today’ fashion and (my favorite) Brazilian
Girls’ hard-house, in-your-face, up-tempo reworking of “Just One of Those
Things” by Blossom Dearie. With appearances by Danger Mouse (who lays down
an astonishingly techy, Devo-ish, yet namesake-worthy rendition of Dinah
Washington’s “Baby Did You Hear?”), Detroit Techno deity Carl Craig,
underground rapper Lyrics Born, and everybody’s darling, RJD2, this
collection rises to the top of the order in my “Best of ’05 (so far)” pile of CDs. Just about as cool as it gets, folks!-- review by Carl Noone, Jr.
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