Ever since the release of St.Germain's 'Boulevard' in 1996, Parisian house label F-Communications has introduced a new chin-stroking element to dance music and released a steady stream of smooth, nu-jazzy house records that no self-respecting Clapham bistro has been without.
And now F-Comm's laid-back ethos has been distilled into one album, courtesy of Edinburgh-based Jason Robertson AKA Aqua Bassino. He released his first EP for the label back in 1996. And after six years of recovering from RSI and tempting househeads with intermittent 12-inch offerings, he finally unleashes his debut longplayer: the understated Beats'n'Bobs.
Breezy bossa nova opener 'Ola' aside (which sounds like the kind of Muzak you hear on Ceefax during the night), Beats'n'Bobs vacillates between being a deep-house Kind Of Blue and a freakish dinner party chez David Lynch.
Especially when Nikki King (UK Jazz Vocalist of the Year 2001) takes the mike. On her two contributions, 'Love Is Here To Stay' and 'Time', husky vocals and a meandering double bass supply the smoky jazz-club ambience, while the off-kilter percussion make it sound like a schizophrenic Sade record.
Arranging each song with the most softly-softly instrumentation imaginable, Robertson has managed to dovetail together a frightening array of influences. Whether it's silken loungecore ('Moonlight'), Taj Mahal-samples ('Baby C'mon') or chanting Ugandan pygmies ('Spirits With Jiwe'), Aqua Bassino's fusion of tropical beats and noir-ish jazz- house leaves you feeling as disorientated as an Al-Qaida captive who's just been subjected to 24 hours of sensory deprivation.
But despite the eclectism, 'Beats'n'Bobs' hardly breaks new ground -there's nothing here to startle you, apart from when when the percussion suddenly erupts from its slumber to sound like saucepans having a fight in the kitchen.
However - it is pleasant. And verrrrrrrrrrry soothing. Its snooze-groove beats might induce narcolepsy but that's no bad thing. You won't hear anything this self-consciously subtle for the rest of the year. And that's a promiszzzzzzzzz…
