Two Synths A Guitar (And) A Drum Machine [coll] – [Soul Jazz Records]

Thurston Hunger   1/23/2022   12-inch, A Library

Vibrant fun from Stuart Baker’s mighty Soul Jazz label. The album title spells out the formula for the songs, but how the artists titrate that formula is captivatingly diverse. This album will put KFJC’s Reject Girl on the Soul Patrol dancefloor, and happily so. I’ll be over in the corner watching Mills College wonder-weird woman Marina La Palma rant far from the maddening mirrorball (her band Ixna from the 80′ we have two of their old 7″ records). Spliff chilling in the melodica dub haze of Niagara. Nearly all the Sounds here are recently from the Universe. The leadoff side has the most driving guitar pieces, while that side also teams up Fab 5 Freddy with Vex Ruffin for a 2016 strive at positivity on “The Balance” – even more valiant mantra these days. Taiwan’s “Black Deer” sprinkle acoustic guitar on their beat-based entry. Maybe not them, but I suspect many of the artists here have an ESG record or two in their personal collections. Reviewing remotely I’m not sure if KFJC’s vinyl is colored “Neon Green” like the title of Tom ov England’s disco dub dish o’ porridge. All tracks tasty in any color.
-Thurston Hunger