Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 23/01/06
Label: Thrill Jockey

If there's one thing you can say about Neil Rosario and Mark Henning, it's that they don't do things by halves. Their previous album, 2002's "Dekaggar" was an Avalanches-styled labour of love, involving around 500 hours spent in the studio and an opening tune constructed from 70 individual tracks. Clearly, banging sh*t out is not The National Trust's style.

"Kings & Queens" is a similarly carefully crafted long player and a testament to the pair's love affair with disco, pop, soul and house. What it isn't is a homage to a time both of them are too young to have known first hand or an ironic exercise in retro chic. Certainly, no one could accuse them of being commitment-shy. Not for this Chicagoan duo a record sampled and synthesised to within an inch of its life; when they want horns, they use an eight-piece horn section (the brothers - collectively, Hypnotic - who are all the offspring of Kelan Phil Cohran, an early member of the brilliantly bonkers Sun Ra Arkestra). If they need a deeply soulful, old-school bass foundation, they hire Charles "Chuck-a-Luck" Hosch, who's played with The Emotions and Teddy Pendergrass. Whether it's vibes or strings they're after, the pair don't reach for their vintage vinyl crates and sampler, they rather recruit local talent.

The result is a smart, exuberant and very real record, whose reach has nothing to do with "authenticity". Presumably wary of sounding like vintage fetishists, The National Trust hired Abel Garabaldi - who's engineered the likes of Britney Spears, R Kelly and Ciara - as producer, to boot their beloved sounds into the 21st century. Thus, the fabulous, falsetto-strewn "Show And Tell" and "Sexy Touch" bow down before Michael Jackson and Barry White, but boast boom-tastic, decidedly contemporary drum sounds. And killer opening track "Elevators" is a dark, tuff chunk of digital funk that suggests Prince, had he been reared on Marshall Jefferson's DJ sets.

Elsewhere, the slow 'n' dirty "Jacuzzis" mixes funk and hip hop to a dangerously libidinal level, The O' Jays' "Backstabber" is put through prime-time Prince and Afro-beat filters and "New Sexy Touch" adds an ounce of Stardust to The National Trust's bounce. As they know, whether it's disco, funk or house, Herbie Hancock, Earth, Wind & Fire or Frankie Knuckles, it's all "body music". "Kings & Queens" presents the perfect opportunity to either jack your own or get it right up close to someone else's.

    by Sharon O'Connell