Something Forever(er)

Back in January, while writing about a compilation entitled Mushroom Jazz Volume 7 put together by Mark Farina, I shared a cut named Macheeto by Slakah the Beatchild. Well today I'm back to share a little more Slakah with you, this time from an album all of his own creation titled Something Forever. It was actually released late last year as a digital only option, but BBE is re-releasing it in physical form in a special edition with four additional tracks next week (get it HERE from BBE and HERE from Amazon.com). If you're down with hip hop infused jazz infused R&B, then you'll want to give Something Forever a spin. Thing Dilla's beats mixed with someone like Raphael Saadiq's neo-soul stylings, sprinkle in some rhymes a la Q-Tip, and you'll come pretty close to what Slakah lays down in the eleven tracks playing here.

The top of the album's playlist is filled with a few almost acid-jazzish tracks, including the opener, When the Night Stood Still, a groover featuring what sounds like bird calls. Track 2, the album's title track, moves along at much the same tempo but sprinkles some light vocals on top of the groove. Living For the Rush picks things up a bit, and has that Dilla feel to it. Track four, Things I Do (For Her), transitions more into the neo-soul touch, but it doesn't stay there long, with B-Boy Beef V2 remixes a cut from his last album (check out the video for the original above) that glances back at hip hop's history. Things slow down again with the next few tracks and bounce back into a mostly down tempo neo-soul feel until the new tracks added on to the original album cycling back to the Dilla influence with some rhymes laid on top with the body moving D.A.N.C.E., and closing with the simmering War Within that does a good job of mixing many of the album's elements.

The inclusion of the last four additional tracks certainly strengthens what was a fairly short album, almost EP. If you don't have the first, then I'd certainly recommend grabbing the whole. If you had gotten your ears on the original edition, adding the four tracks to it definitely won't hurt. Here's a cut for you to listen to:

Slakah The Beatchild - Things I Do (For Her) by MISB

And here's one from his last album:

Slakah The Beatchild - The Answer (Feat. Melanie Durrant) : Soul Movement, Vol 1

Visit his label BBE, and become his friend on MySpace and Facebook.