You've Been Spiked

Multi-instrumentalist/DJ/producer Chris Joss presents his acid jazzy electronica with a wonderful combination of quirk and cool. He's as much David Holmes as he is Thievery Corporation, and as retro as he is future. All these qualities make You've Been Spiked a feel-good record for cool cats and one of those "if you ain't dancing, you must be dead" albums. There are the usual wah-wah guitars, Hammond organs, and Italian soundtrack moments that the Thievery Corporation and their ESL roster love so much, but rarely are the pieces put together with such purpose. Barely anything sounds sampled and even though Joss is a one-man band, instruments play off one another like it's a live jam session. Besides the grooves there's the Funkadelic-styled chants and Barry White from outer space narration to latch onto, and two cool bonus tracks from Joss' hard to find first album -- The Man With the Suitcase -- seal the deal. It's the deepest album to ever come from ESL and a superb way to funkify yourself on the mellow tip. ~ David Jeffries|