Jill aka Projectojil – Tale From The Native (Electromagnetic Pulse)

This debut self-released eight track CDR album from Portuguese electronic producer Jill Projectojil’ Viseu Tale From The Native sees him inhabiting a realm that’s distinctly kissed by both funk and soul, all the while leaning predominantly towards chilled house and downbeat grooves. Opening track “Cinescope’ manages to pull off some late-nineties jazzy drum and bass styles that unfortunately come across as pleasant but fairly dated, and sadly things aren’ helped much by the stop-start editing that peppers the entire track as well as the repetitive and slightly jarring female retro-soul vocal samples that loop over the top. “Acrobat’s sees the trajectory dropping a few notches into downbeat hip-hop grooves that carry more than a hint of big-beat in their step, but once again, while the funk-centred backdrop of warm bass grooves and noodly clavinet keys certainly provides plenty of solidly enjoyable background listening, it’s the obtrusive and repetitive vocal samples that prove to be the most problematic factor. That said, there are certainly a few more intriguing moments to be enjoyed here when Viseu veers towards a more subtle deployment of sampling – witness “Skyscraper’ wander down into deep, blunted-out trip-hop amidst vast double-bass runs and eerie bleeping synth tones, complete with beautifully droned-out female vocal textures and strangely Middle Eastern-sounding chords, and the title track’ venture towards flickering, Detroit-tinged tech-house. Viseu clearly has more than a few strong ideas up his sleeve, but unfortunately this disc felt more like a demo compilation than anything else to me – an impression not aided by the often thin-sounding mastering here.