Quiroga: Really Swing Vol. 2
Really Swing

Why is Quiroga not more of a household name? Certainly the ultra-fresh material on this ten-inch vinyl sequel to the mid-2010 Really Swing Volume 1 release (also a ten-inch vinyl affair) suggests that the man behind the mask, Napoli, Italy-based Walter Del Vecchio, deserves to be better known, even if he has issued music on Cactus Island Recordings and Irma Records, and also appeared on Symbolic Interaction's The Silence Was Warm Vol. 2. Pitched as “Free Thinking Adult Entertainment” (cheekily borne out by the back cover sleeve), the second volume plunges the listener into a phantasmagoric and off-kilter yet totally captivating blend of hip-hop, soul, and funk, with vocal elements liberally shredded and broken beats routinely splintered into stutter-funk.

Quiroga's fresh style is immediately evident from the first moment of “Sessomatto” when fresh vocal cut-ups, claps, and stop-start rhythms abruptly turn into a faded hip-hop episode elevated by the crisp snap of the drummer's snare and soul vocal hiccups. In “Feel This,” a female's soulful voice emotes reflectively over a piano-sprinkled jam that's as much lounge music as it is instrumental hip-hop, while a pair of uncredited MCs trade rhymes over a bass-heavy, old-school funk groove during “Worst Gov.” Moments of wiry electro and lounge-styled hip-hop also surface during a fabulous outing that, with only eight cuts split across two ten-inch sides, is over way too fast.

January 2011