A Little Bit Of Somethin'

Q (7/00, p.116) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...A series of ramshackle instrumental loops that veer between a folksier DJ Shadow and the introspective interludes peppering the Beastie Boys' ILL COMMUNICATION..." CMJ (6/26/00, p.23) - "...[This set] of stoner breakbeats is a mellow and eclectic affair that blurs the line between organic soul and preprogrammed groove..."

Tommy Guerrero's A Little Bit of Something sounds like the former skate punk has been listening to a whole lot of mid-period Beastie Boys albums. It's not the in-your-face rhymes or punk-based aggression that's influenced him, but the group's canny mix of samples and new music that blends influences from all kinds of unexpected, offbeat places. (Tracks like the languid, groovy "Four TRK Samba" also suggest that Guerrero has a full complement of Cornelius albums.) These brief instrumentals -- 15 tracks in 39 minutes! -- ignore the drone and ambient schools of electronica and post-rock in favor of a magpie-like interest in variety and novelty. This makes the songs on the aptly titled A Little Bit of Something wonderfully varied and never tiresome. (The sounds even change within songs, such as the way "So Blue It's Black" starts out as a duet for acoustic guitar and vinyl noise but then eases into mellow, '70s-style fusion.) This is an enchanting, fascinating album. ~ Stewart Mason