Los Angeles via Washington D.C. trio Time Machine's debut album opens with "Time's Fly," a dreamy bit of down-tempo hip-hop based on clavinet and vibraphone samples that recall the acid jazz moment and a goofy but positive lyrical message that smacks hard of
De La Soul's 3 Feet High and Rising. Elsewhere, bits of
A Tribe Called Quest ("Reststop Sweetheart"),
Arrested Development ("A Cold Day in Hell"),
Digital Underground ("Let's Not Be Real," which also starts and ends with a great West Coast piano jazz sample that sounds like
Vince Guaraldi's work on the Peanuts specials), and the rest of the pre-gangsta golden age get their due. Even commercial happy-rap folks like
DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince or
Kid 'N Play come to mind on overtly silly tracks like "Spelling Bee."
Slow Your Roll adds little that's new to the hip-hop lexicon, but its evocation of the past is done with such obvious affection and knowledge of the style that it's close to impossible not to find it endearing. ~ Stewart Mason