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Rae & Christian Anotherlatenight by Sterling McGarvey
Let me just say one simple statement: This is the first CD I've listened to in a long time in which I continuously hit "back" to play the first track repeatedly. It took me about 20 minutes to get from the first track, which sounds like the most DJ Premier track that Primo never produced. The cruelest thing about it, though, is that it's only 1:40 long. I haven't felt this teased since the "take off your shirt" interlude on the first Redman album. That was only about 10 seconds of instrumental bliss, but damned if this doesn't come close. The track in question? "Copenhagen Claimin' Respect" by The Boulevard Connection. If your head's not bobbing to this, you'd better have a C-3 injury and matching neck brace. This is madness. And it's only the first track!!! The second track settles into sleazy Disco in Joshua's "Come On." The effect is almost like taking something molded from hot metal (in this case, the white hotness of the first track) and cooling it off immediately. Not that "Come On" is a bad track by any means. It sounds like that wacky rare groove record that you'd buy at somebody's garage sale by some guy with a Bob Ross 'fro posing with lapels big enough to use as a hang glider. "Put That On My Momma" is another smooth, breezy track that's loaded with keys. It's not the type of track that makes you stop mid-conversation to ask what the CD is that's playing, though. It just flows along. "Introlude" is a jazz-laden segue into "100 Million Ways," which grafts the vocals of"It Ain't Nothing Like" by the Pharcyde onto guitar-licks and a head nodder of a beat. Still, hearing the 'Cyde makes one wish for the days of the Bizarre...Nevertheless, Fumi's "Straight No Filter (Only Child Remix) is another instrumental background track. Nice bassline, just a little wallpapery for my tastes. "Take Ya Time" turns the heat back up with its rare groove sample and its jam session vibe. I mean, damn. Damn, damn, damn. It sounds like the kind of track you'd hear right in the middle of the Acid Jazz explosion of nearly 10 years past. Definitely picks you up. Sure, you'd normally be half asleep and muttering during this track, but believe you me, this mofo will have you mustering the strongest head nod you can come up with after those Red Bulls you drank have worn off and the sun is rising...Yeah. "4x3" by Capoeira Twins combines a Hip-Hop beat with a dubby bassline and some guy who sounds mysteriously like Jason Kay. It's like a bouncily weird remix of a Jamiroquai track that never saw the light of day, and one can visualize some drunken idiot trying to bounce to it really badly. The next track, "I Pink I'm Going Squeezy" has all of the funky trappings of an early 80s track. "Roll Call" sounds like a 70s TV theme song...set in Ghana. Imagine Starsky and Hutch riding through the streets of Accra, and you're getting warmer. It flows nicely into the Disco classic, H20's "Got to Be Me," which would have sounded rightfully in place next to "Barely Breaking Even" on Dmitri from Paris' Disco Forever from last year. Aromadozeski Therapy's "Strudel Strut" is like a majorly blunted 60s Latin Jazz track. But please, leave the maracas in the closet. By this point, the album has definitely gone off the deep end. As you become more out of your head with sleep deprivation, so does the album. Rae & Christian's own remix of Faze Action's "Samba" works its way in with its funky late 70s feel before all Hell breaks loose. By all Hell breaking loose, I mean, the album wraps up with a three punch. For God's sake, how many people truly have the testicular fortitude to make an electro Hip-Hop cover of "Flashlight?" It's a bold and ambitious effort, but nothing will replace the original. They let their tribute to the Funk fade out and fade back in with every friend of Dan K's anthem (no, not "The Chronic," fool; go further back!)...Rick James' "Mary Jane." Definitely a moment during the album in which someone will pause, smile and say "Werrrrrd!" The final moment of the CD comes with a cover of "California Dreaming" by Jose Feliciano. As surreal as an acoustic guitar cover of "King of Rock" by Jewel, this is the Official "Get Ta' Steppin'" track of the album. If this doesn't make everybody leave or lie down, then just tell them all that you're going to bed and that they ain't gotta go home, but they gotta get the Hell out. If the CD needed another title, "The Sounds of 7am, Sunday Morning" would be another appropriate one. Or perhaps, "Damn." It's so perfectly appropriate for unwinding from a long night at the club, but I could see a sample-crazy, crate-digging Hip-Hop head getting into this one any time of day. In essence, this album was made by and for beat connoisseurs. If you're the type of person who goes out and buy old records because you heard them sampled somewhere else, Rae & Christian mixed this disc for people like you and me. I likes. You will too!
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Representing Manchester, England, Mark Rae and Steve Christian are two of Europe's hottest Hip-Hop producers and remixers. Working with such Soul legends as Bobby Womack, Rae & Christian have worked up a good deal of buzz around themselves. Following the success of the first segment of the "ANOTHERLATENIGHT" series featuring Fila Brazilia, Kinetic Records gives us the next (U.S.) installment of the series, giving us Rae & Christian's soundtrack to wind down from the festivities of an evening well-celebrated. The CD is a solid backdrop to a (God forbid I use the term) chill out session. Some of the tracks are definite bangers, while other are just good background music. When you're sitting around a friend's apartment somewhere between sleep and the most profound discussions of your youth, Rae & Christian's disc is a good choice to have bumpin' in the surroundings.
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