Olde Soul / Double K: Taking me Places / Face to Face
Content

In recent days, LA-based Content has issued great material by Dday One (Heavy Migration) and 2tall (Softer Diagram) as well as the superb Signal Path compilation, and now upholds the tradition with this considerably shorter but no less solid split 7-inch release by Olde Soul and Double K. On the A side, Olde Soul's “Taking Me Places” gets the party started with MC Blak King draping rhymes (about touring through night-time LA) over a funky hip-hop-flavoured groove built from a slinkily swinging backbeat, chunky guitar accents, and vibes. A loose and laid-back drum pulse works up some tasty midtempo head-nod in “Along the Way,” the instrumental that follows. LA producer Double K (People Under the Stairs) kicks the B into gear with “Face to Face,” a seductive slice of funky hip-hop whose crisp looping beat and wah-wah guitar Double K augments with a soulful vocal sample. The aptly-named “Bonus Beat” appears ever-so-briefly with a George Benson-styled vocal-and-guitar riff. Though the release is a mere ten minutes in duration, there's still enough of that deliciously crusty sound on display to satisfy sample-based, instrumental hip-hop devotees.

December 2008