Wow! Where the hell did this spring from? Literally from Mexico – metaphorically from the cavernous dub station on the fringe of hip hop, soul and glitched out funk riding high with a mescalin milkshake and a touch of sunstroke.
Diego Martinez started recording as Lumenlab and then in 2005, he became Jack’ Son, a purveyor of hip hop cut ups, skittering vocal samples and flourishes of drum and bass, funk and soul. The comparison to the work of Scott Herron’ Prefuse 73 cannot be ignored, so I’ll dispense with it now. However, whereas Prefuse lost the beautiful (seemingly) simplicity and warmth of his earlier work on later albums, Jack’ Son takes the mantle of Herron’ “Uprock Narative†sound and gives it a very unique twist. Utilising the talents of Mexico’ most recognised MC, Boca Floja, as well as MCs Dimitri Pollok, Bookless, Vektor, Broadband Star, the Columbian singer/producer Lucrecia and minimal techno producer Fax, Martinez creates the most sonically dense and warm tunes, heavy on the dub echo and never straying into predictable territory.
Glitches sit along side disjointed drums, synth pads and warm washes, with the vocals treated as an extension of the instrumental colourings, rather than sitting inside of the groove in a sensible fashion. Martinez really bends your mind in sections and becomes very cerebrally kinetic, forcing the listener to disconnect the normal listening structures and to allow each small sound to exist in the moment rather than trying to pin down each noise in a logical sense. It confuses at times sure, but all the while this album grooves and moves constantly. Even on this giddy ride, it’s no abstract pony – it’s got the funk through and through.
The surprises keep coming when the female vocals make an appearance midway through the album, delivering yet another side to this already diverse producer’ sound. Taking us from a stoned dub setting to a gorgeous soul tune and into drum and bass seems effortless for this super talented young Mexican producer. Seek it down and you’ll be thoroughly rewarded.
