Chimpomatic

Jel

Soft Money

It’s great to see someone who is constantly helping out everyone else finally do something for themselves. And that is exactly what we have here. Having created the beats for some of the most memorable Anticon records including Subtle and Themselves, Jel now gives us his first solo LP. And it’s good.

I have read comparisons to DJ Shadow and even Massive Attack, but that is to misunderstand this album. It has a totally different agenda. At heart it is a straight up hip hop album - the beats are rich, heavy and hold your interest long after many other instrumentalists have lost it. You really come to understand just how Anticon can make such beguiling music when all the vocals have gone and the beats stand alone. And stand alone they certainly do, especially on WMD, one of the few vocal numbers. As you can guess, this is an anti-Bush barrage of abuse but the beat is so damn fine that even Dubya himself would find it hard to keep his foot from tappin'.