Feed The Cat

Kaidi Tatham was already a valued member of West London's incestuous music community before Feed the Cat's mid-2002 release. Not only did Tatham's C.V. count associations with Fela Kuti and Roy Ayers, but he also had a fixed spot among broken beat's elite as a multi-instrumentalist and producer, having been involved with the Bugz in the Attic massive, and the triple-headed supergroup Neon Phusion. This full-length proves Tatham to be a force on his own, and stands with Afronaught's Shapin' Fluid as one of the best single-artist albums to have come from the scene. Like most of his counterparts, Tatham has an affinity for all things polyrhythmic and melodic; he throws Kuti, Ayers, Herbie Hancock, Weather Report, and Prince into the mix and manages to cook up productions that thankfully avoid overt reverence by building on his inspirations rather than mimicking them. There's no greater example of this than the closing "Betcha (Did)"; opening with subtle Latin jazz flourishes, it settles into a stuttering beat accented by nimble stabs of piano before vocalist Izzi Dunn arrives to drop lines that are delivered alternately with all of Prince's sly sultriness ("Betcha thought you were the man of my dreams") and all of Jocelyn Brown's contagious confidence ("Betcha thought you were so good I'd never fake"). Dunn switches pitch as often as the arrangement swings from a complex array of percussive elements and soft keyboard tones to a few seconds of spare piano-and-keyboard interplay. The feel of the album is loose throughout. Seven songs ranging from six to 11 minutes in length are broken up by brief interludes, and none of them are in any hurry to pass by. Tatham clearly wants you to settle into these grooves and soak up the rich sounds. There's no problem doing just that, whether you want to cut a rug, or just put on the headphones. ~ Andy Kellman|

西ロン・ムーヴメントのなかでも中心的な役割を担ってきたロウズ・オブ・モーション。その中核ユニットであるネオン・フュージョンのメンバーであり、もともとはキーボード奏者として活躍、ハーバライザーや4ヒーローなどの作品にも参加していたエージェント・Kことカイディ・タサーン。キーボードのほかにドラムの演奏や作詞作曲もこなすマルチなその才能を発揮したのがこの初フル・アルバムである。コズミックで幻想的なインタールードを経て展開されるのは、卓抜した演奏力や精緻なプロダクションに裏打ちされた心地良いジャズ?フュージョンと、ソウルフルな高揚感、そして未来的ムードが共存したサウンド世界だ。アルバムを通してリスナーを惹き付け、安心して聴き続けさせるような不思議なパワーが介在する作品。カーリーン・アンダーソンやヴァネッサ・フリーマンのヴォーカル参加曲も絶品!
bounce (C)ネイシャン