It’s been awhile since we last heard from Sydney-based sampologist DJ Soup; three years in fact since he reactivated his Fonke Knomaads partnership alongside MC Teop for 2008′s ‘Cleopatra’s Bath Milk’ album. This latest five track EP on the recently reactivated Creative Vibes label ‘Uber Soup’ sees Soup making a welcome return and this time around it’s particularly noticeable that his newer material is far less built around the extensive sample layering that characterised his earlier works such as ‘Souperloops’ and ‘Beatroot.’ Indeed, all of the tracks here feature vocalists in some form, with soul particularly being the operative word here. Indeed, opening track ‘UR Whatz Hapn’ sees Soup going way more Motown-soul than he’s ever ventured previously as Evelyn Duprai contributes a stellar Etta James-esque vocal to a low-slung backdrop of snapping hiphop breaks, lazy blues guitar bends and fat Moog bass squelches, while Damien Millar’s spectacular baritone soul performance on the cover of Yazoo’s ‘Midnight’ manages to inject an Isaac Hayes-esque slant on the original’s female-fronted electro-torchsong that could easily be the best interpretation of the track that I’ve heard so far – the original version included. Elsewhere, ‘Online Love’ takes things off in an electro-pop direction as Holly Austin’s internet relationship-centred lyrics bounce off a backdrop of bright synths and wiry rockabilly guitars that’s part Ronettes, part New Wave, before ‘Dreams Of Mother’ sees Soup venturing out into the sort of downtempo weirdness that’s become his signature, vast dubby bass synths sliding against cavernous beats as Damien Millar’s spoken monologue explores the pitfalls of the constant focus on sexual imagery in Freudian dream analysis. No, really – but then again, that’s pretty much what you expect from a guy who closed his last album with the paranoid alien-lizard ravings of David Icke. A stylish return from a guy who’s been away from our ears too long.
Chris Downton
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