Bop Singlayer: Vol 3
Really Swing

Really Swing's first two volumes of so-called “sample-based soul for free-minded followers” came courtesy of Napoli, Italy-based producer Walter Del Vecchio under the Quiroga name, whereas volume three is credited to Luca Affatato aka Bop Singlayer (and 16Bit Suicide too); as it turns out, Affatato and Del Vecchio are simpatico partners-in-crime who also issue tracks under the Tom Felag name (2010's Beat a Confronto Vol. 3 an example). Of immediate concern, however, is Affatato's own contribution to the Really Swing series, which is as delicious a collection of future soul-funk jams and broken beats as the first two. Once again dubbed “Free Thinking Adult Entertainment,” the ten-inch vinyl platter rolls out eight ultra-fresh cuts of Dilla-fied, hip-hop sampledelica that'll leave you hungry for more.

To start with, the head-nod is so deep in the opener “Flirt” and side B's “Bancha Rock” you just might bust a neck nerve. “Funky Rooster” spins a snippet from the Billy Paul 1972 classic “Me and Mrs. Jones” into a bass-thumping slow dance, while “Ice Cream” sounds like the kind of snappy funk Sly Stone might be releasing today had his life not taken the (down)turn it has during the past few decades. Side B eases into position via the lover's swoon of “Under Your Control,” with soulful vocals breathily gliding atop a dream-like synthetic swirl of roiling beats, claps, and trippy squiggles, after which “Country La Chapelle” spreads bluesy vocal lamentations and a raw electric guitar figure over a slow-motion pulse, and “Bongo Mum” scatters voice cut-ups and dusty piano sprinkles over its own thudding groove. Needless to say, volume three, just like the others in the series, is over way too fast. Would it be it too soon to ask for volume four?

September 2011