Motion Without Pain

Over six albums and a healthy remix slate, DJ duo Mark "Bliss" Blissenden and Andrew "Birdy" Burdall have honed Baby Mammoth's downtempo formula to a sweet science. They've been tweaking the recipe by degrees since 1996's excellent 10,000 YEARS BENEATH THE STREETS, adding fresh flavors to their original, irresistible stew of hip-hop, house, jazz, and quirked-out techno. On MOTION WITHOUT PAIN, Baby Mammoth's relentlessly inventive grooves dip playfully into fusion seasonings--pancultural percussion, live drumming, splashy keyboard vamps, jazz guitar, sassy horns, and samples plucked from exotica and easy-listening wax.
MOTION finds Baby Mammoth brimming with confidence and just-for-kicks joy, trimming the fat while accentuating the phat on nine faultlessly funky tracks. Blissenden and Burdall know exactly what works, and they rarely put a foot wrong. The anthemic strut of the opening "Elephunk" sets a punchy pace for such standouts as "Pacific Glitter" (echoes of the "Cosby Show" theme), "Tasty Maloney", "One Foot Up My Arse", and "Pigs in Space". "The Ghost of Harry" milks its vaudevillian cha-cha loop and electronic cafT instrumentation for all their groovy worth. Decked out in the subtler vestments of Baby Mammoth's striking craft, the title track and "Ebb & Flow" especially sparkle amid MOTION's flashier moves.|