A level-straddling blend; earthy, groovy and easy to dig but with a deep, clever halo of abstract thematics and transcendent yearnings which might be harder to swallow were they not so smoothly anchored.
Jvox started out as an MC before switching to the machines and although he doesn’t break out the mic on Strange Universe—his first full length release in 8 years—a passion for words clearly shines through. By way of an intricate tapestry of well stitched and well researched vocal samples every track has a story to tell. Only these are no street corner fables of buds and bitches, we’re talking parallel universes and extra terrestrial contact here. The beats also draw heavily on hip/trip-hop vibes, for the most part clocking in the sub 110 BPM range and favoring a crunchy, old skool texture in lieu of the crisp kicks and clean snares of much modern electronica.
Completing the package of words and beats is an ethereal harmonic space composed of distant, dreamy pads and shimmery synth stabs punctuated with snatches of sampled instruments. The result is a level straddling blend; earthy, groovy and easy to dig but with a deep, clever halo of abstract thematics and transcendent yearnings which might be harder to swallow were they not so smoothly anchored. The sort of thing one might expect to hear if J Dilla’s ghost was somehow channeling beats through the mind of Merv Pepler with Luke Vibert and DJ Shadow on mixdown duties, in other words; awesome!
Strange Universe is available on Component.
