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Ui Lifelike (Southern/Sonic Unyon) UiLab Fires (Bingo/Sonic Unyon) New York's Ui do exactly what "post-rock" is purported to: take the rock format, drop the vocals, and move it toward the realm of the electronic. Double-bassed and dedicated to the 4/4 groove, Ui expand their palette here to include synth burbles, horns and even some guitar. It's more about sounds than songs, but it's certainly needed these days. They then hitch up with former tourmates Stereolab (UiLab!) to run through four mixes of Brian Eno's "St. Elmo's Fire," from his pre-ambient 1975 album Another Green World, a fine meeting ground for the Lab's pop sense and Ui's umbrage, where tune and texture have equal footing. Ui 7/10, UiLab 8/10 (Chris Yurkiw) AZ Pieces of a Man (Noo-Trybe/Virgin) For some reason it would be easy to heap AZ and his new album on the huge pile of jiggy that's taking up much space at the curb, but then again, AZ has always sort of been on the more palatable side of commercial jams. Pieces of a Man reminds me of Nas and his second album, only it's exactly what you'd expect from the Queensbridge native AZ. R&B and dancefloor-ready songs all the way down the line, courtesy of the Trackmasters production team. Thank God he's got a nice flow. 6/10(Scott C.)
Super-hot producer Timbaland's Midas touch (see: Ginuwine, Aaliyah) is all over this project and it shows. His syncopated beats add sophisticated irregularities to Playa's tight vocals. For their part, this male trio drop smooth style on body bumpers like "Don't Stop the Music" and the infectious "Ms. Parker." On top of that, members of the Timbaland camp (Missy, Magoo, Aaliyah) represent via guest shots. A solid debut. 7.5/10 (Gerard Dee) Smith & Mighty DJ Kicks (!K7/Fusion III)
Before acid house, England's squatty warehouse scene was ruled by sound systems like Smith & Mighty, Wild Bunch, TDK, Family Funktion and Soul II Soul playing hip hop to dub to funk. The sound was defining. Wild Bunch became Massive Attack, Soul II Soul became, er, Soul II Soul. Smith & Mighty got a bum record deal. They're back with what sounds like the best DJ Kicks yet. Most of the tracks here are actually by Smith & Mighty (as More Rockers), They've put in lotsa Bristolian D&B and yes, their '88 cover of Bacharach's "Walk on By" is included. Heaven of a hard-to-find kind. 9.5/10 (Mireille Silcott)
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Playa Cheers 2 U (Def Jam/Polygram)