Love, Pussycats & Carwrecks

James Bradell's second album in Funki Porcini guise is an enjoyable, quirky trip, as moodily atmospheric as it is subtly hilarious (and sometimes not so subtly). Advantageously steering away from another two-disc marathon, Love, Pussycats and Carwrecks instead takes up just over an hour of time of high-speed and meditative pieces, both touching subtly on a variety of styles in an overall context. The lengthy and slinky-by-definition (or at least by title) "Purrfect" starts everything on the right foot, a quiet and quietly dramatic combination of soft, slow beats, a mournful trumpet solo, and found-sound samples, including a subtly trippy bit of someone walking down a street. Unlike most other trip-hop types who began and ended with Portishead, there's an actual sense of a different approach here, as the buried snippets of drum'n'bass loops make clear. The energy starts picking up more with the immediately following "Groover" -- there's more trumpet, as is the case for much of the album, but there's also a lot more speed and jungle-style loops -- and from there things continue merrily on. Enough random moments throughout the album keep it from being just something to put on while turning the lights down low and practicing seduction techniques. Distorted, flanged drum hits, sudden stop-starting of the music as a whole, and deep, squelchy basslines decide to make random appearances at many different points. A few tracks are merely snippets, but others make for great, full-on experiences, such as the appropriately named "Carwreck," with sudden jump cuts, studio tweaking, rhythm changes, and more going on throughout its length. Even more hyperactive and suddenly weaving here and there is "12 Points off Your License," with abbreviated horn blasts, jumping, rolling drum loops, and sudden, organ-tinged down-speed jams. ~ Ned Raggett|