Solid Steel, and Ninja Tune for that matter, have always been a source of music I can unconditionally trust. Safe to say, this strengthens that opinion no end.
Another producer from Brighton's already fantastic collection of musical talent, Bonobo now gets his fingers into other peoples work. I'm glad he did that.
This album finely blends funk, chillout, jazz, trip-hop-esque, and some unclassified genres of music into an album which belongs in everyones collection. The track selection is strong, very strong, and the mixing definately complements it. It contains some reasonably well known tracks (for fans of Solid Steel) such as the slightly overused 'Exploration'. I have numerous albums with this song and it just keeps popping up. Amon Tobin's 'Easy Muffin' is another track people might be familiar with.
There definately aren't any weak tracks on this, but there are some pure gems such as King Unique's 'Hidden', mixed sublimely into Bonobo's own 'Recurring'. I'm still impatiently awaiting King Unique's debut album, it'll be a corker. Anyway, the cd finishes on some very abstract 'chillout', quite a difference from the beginning of the album, but no less enjoyable. It's quite apparent that Bonobo spent a fair while ensuring not only the track selection, but also the order was fine tuned to give the most enjoyable listening experience.
If this hasn't convinced you to purchase the album in a fit of excitement and joy, then you need to read the review again. Otherwise, go and find yourself a copy of this wonderful album.