DJ Harry's much anticipated original production album (following several impressive EPs and remix projects) takes a couple of tracks to really get off the ground, but when it does, watch out. You can pretty safely skip over "Collision" and "Tragedy in Blue," which skip along the surface with pleasant but unremarkable house and nu-jazz grooves, respectively. But those just set the stage for "Monkfish," a deep and dirty trip into downbeat hip-hop, which itself leads nicely into "All My Life," a similarly gritty funk exercise that features a fine young singer named Lissie and serves as the album's emotional centerpiece. There are other very strong tracks as well, though, including the rhythmically complex and soothingly lovely "Shadows" and the bubblingly soulful "Aquarium Man" (which also features some moments of impressive turntablist work). Perhaps most impressive is the fact that the music from which these collages were created was all played by live musicians, no samples were used, and
DJ Harry wrote all the music himself. The result is very impressive, and hopefully portends more similar work for the future. ~ Rick Anderson