Innerstance.Beatbox: Tekniques
Consumers Research & Development

Jason Todd dropped a veritable fireball of instrumental hip-hop beatitude on last year's Innerstance.Beatbox EP Your Eyes Are Like UFO's, My Darling and now, joined by MC Kerse and Def Harmonic's Lunaversol9, Todd maintains that high ride with the Tekniques EP (the single's seeming five songs are actually three as the title song comes in 'Street,' 'Clean,' and instrumental versions). His serious jones for soulful hip-hop gives Kerse a warm joint to spit over in “Tekniques.” Todd frames the lush tune with brooding orchestral samples and sweetens it with silky strings, flutes, and a tiny glockenspiel melody, but it's the loping soul-funk groove and the MC's biting attack that dominate.

Might that be Miles's muted horn egging on Lunaversol9's smooth versifying in “Angel Bomb”? The song's combined soul-jazz shuffle and snappy strut impress regardless, while Todd indulges his passion for fusion with some nifty moog soloing. “Blue Skies Grey” exposes the disc's classic soul dimension most nakedly when the euphoric sparkler references Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder, and Sly Stone among others; surrendering to IBB's scratching and clavinet-kissed beats never felt so good. Definitely time to track down the (at least) six other records Todd issued in 2005 under other aliases on four other labels.

May 2006