Eleven years between LPs, and yet Step Off picks up exactly where ESG left off, neither unnecessarily updating their signature sound nor retracing over ground they previously staked out. Recording for Soul Jazz, the label whose 2000 retrospective A South Bronx Story reclaimed the group's austere, remote grooves from the clutches of sampleheads, ESG (joined here by second-generation Scroggins girls Chistelle on guitar and Nicole on bass) still loom ahead of the curve -- subtle refinements like Renee's now-mature and oh-so-sly vocals result in music that is more defiant and confident than ever before. This is still funk with an alien otherworldliness the likes of which George Clinton never envisioned, stripped to its barest essentials for maximum impact. ~ Jason Ankeny
Rovi
80年台初頭、汗かき度ゼロの無機質ファンクでフロアを凍結させていた、謎の姉妹バンドの新作が突如登場! サンプリングネタとして使われまくりの名曲“UFO”のような闇雲な疾走感は控えめながら、一時のON-U勢にも通じる妙にドロ~ンとした音処理が全編を怪しく支配しています。巫女的なヴォーカルとも相まって、これはまさに魔都NYの土着念仏踊り! いまこの時代だからこそ絶対必聴の名盤!!
bounce (C)北爪啓之
タワーレコード(2002年11月号掲載 (P94))