Musical, cutting edge and cool without being up its arse, Gilles Peterson's latest magnum opus compilation, the third in two years, opens with the delicious electric soul and tactile orchestral sweeps of Luomo's 'Tessio'.
From here, as is expected from Gilles, the album moves between moods and genres without ever dropping an ounce of quality. Herbert's 'The Audience' takes the beats into quirky off kilter territory, while keeping the delicate production values of Luomo. Max Fresh's 'Whole' introduces R&B swing that has been engaging Gilles' musical preferences recently, without compromising the left field electronica feel of the album.
Ptaah, who under a different guise produces Wamdue Project's hits, adds fresh and furious Latin percussion and syncopated breaks to the mid paced grooves, which paves the way perfectly for some broken beat high jazz action from Afronaught and Melissa Brown on 'Transcend Me'.
Nuphonic's Block 16 featuring Jhelisa brings the energy down from boiling point with the oriental soca introduction of the scenic 'Find An Oasis'. Which in turn bridges into Truby Trio's pure carnival of 'Algre'.
Alistair Colling's 'Umba Bada Uma' again cools the pace, while Marcos Valle provides the essential roots Brazilian groove. The Latin outro continues with Sunaga t'Experience's 'It's You' (Nicola Conte re-mix), which threatens to leave the rest of the album hanging off its extended piano solo. But the job of closing of the party goes to Suv, featuring Guy Calhoun, with the shuffling guitar-led drum 'n bass of 'Nina'.
The album is only available from his website, gillespeterson.com. As a showcase for Gilles' sound, and the musicians he supports, it works well.
As an album it's simply a must have.
