Here Comes Treble
Cover Artwork
It's been one of my favourite compilations of the year and I'm late on my review duties - but in fact this blog didn't even exist when everybody else was loving it already. Today we're talking about Here Comes Treble, the first compilation from Domu‘s young TrebleO label. And it's a great debut, way too fresh to be put in this blog's classics category! Dominic has proven great taste putting together such diverse collection of styles and artists, even the cover artwork is an outstanding piece of work, designed by Mr. The Beef.
So, being the last blogger on the planet to review this, let's make it a proper one. Here Comes Treble was preceded by two download-only samplers (via ithinkmusic) and accompanied by mixtapes from Nu Era, Soulparlor, Rondenion, Lukid and Domu himself.
Personally, I'm always a bit sceptical when it comes to compilations of different styles of music. TrebleO on the other hand manages to fuse all these genres, broken beat, hip hop, soul, drum and bass, house and what not in an exceptional sensitive way. The opener Twice is a jazzy-smooth track with soft hip-hop beats, rich of strings and brass. It comes from Lukid, a young London based producer with a nice portfolio on his MySpace page. Next up is Probe DMS, one of half of NYC's Spymusic. It's the track Voodoo Magic I didn't like when first listening to it. But it has grown on me since, it's a fresh hip-hop tune with raps (from Probe himself?) that has an oldskool Ummah feel to it.
A fantastic sound clash of genre-bending underground music! Simply needs to be heard!
Mark De Clive Lowe (Antipodean)
The music is then makes a twist towards laid back house with Breakin Bread from Chris Barker, followed by the soulful Ben Mi Duck. They already had an EP Stepping Back Patterns on TrebleO, but Pointless Dreams is exclusive to the compilation. Lush strings and soulful vocals with a 4hero feel, that already got some airplay on Gilles Peterson‘s radio show. It is 4hero's Marc Mac in his Nu Era disguise who contributed Robot Moves, a personal favourite.
When Domu asked me to do a track for the album he used those magic words “you can do anything you want” and that’s how ‘Robot Moves’ came to life. You can clearly hear across the album that everyone involved had the same instructions and the result is a solid compilation of great diverse self indulgence. And that’s not a bad thing…
Marc Mac (4 Hero)
Domu's first out of three tracks is Izittobe, the first output since the massive Dangerous Minds EP and it goes into a similiar direction. It gets even darker from here with Soulparlor's Gee, moving between dubstep and broken beat territories. Let's talk about my favourite track on the compilation, it's a remix of an old Sonar Circle tune, remixed by Bassclef. I'm not sure if the original of Cry had a proper release on vinyl or if it first appeared on TrebleO's recent collection of old material from Domu's drum and bass oriented moniker. Another track from Domu is in the cue, So Move is probably the weakest track on the compilation. Bruk sound with sweet vocals that sound like Nicola Kramer, though it might not be her.
It represents brilliantly everything going on in the house, soul and jazz scenes at the moment.
Aaron Jerome (BBE/If Music)
Before the music makes another twist, Planet Zero from Cartridge is the last and probably darkest tune of the rougher side of the compilation. We go soulful from there! It's the Baker Brothers with What You Do Is Right. I don't know who they are or where the come from, but it's a bright tune, it must have a full band behind the acid jazz flavoured vocals, very rich sounding! More positive sounds are delivered by Bedford's DJ Marin (Bakura!), the Rondenion mix of Love Fantasy is an atmospheric deephouse track with soulful vocals. Sub Ensemble deliver 22 21, picking up the jazzy sounds of Dalindeo or japanese nujazz, you get the picture.
An interlude comes from Simbad, who teams up with Philadelphia's spoken word artist Rich Medina for a short Momentum. Wise words, wise words. Everybody keeps talking about Austrian wunderkind Dorian Concept recently. Being heavily featured by Benji B, TrebleO released his Beat Tape and now he contributes Thank Capital Letters. You like Prefuse 73? You like Dimlite? I'm sure you will like Dorian Concept. I should mention he has a free album on Earstroke and another download from TrebleO. Just as we continue, it's already the last track and it's Ninja Tunes' Daedalus. Drummery Jam is pure fun in the sense of Pizzicato Five or Wagon Christ, a bit like a song for children.
Want to listen again?
02. Probe Dms - Voodoo Magic
03. Chris Barker - Breakin Bread
04. Ben Mi Duck - Pointless Dreams
05. Nu Era - Robot Moves
06. Domu Feat Aina - Izittobe
07. Soulparlor - Gee
08. Sonar Circle - Cry (Bass Clef Mix)
09. Domu - So Move
10. Cartridge - Planet Zero
11. Baker Brothers - What You Do Is Right
12. DJ Marin - Love Fantasy (Rondenion Mix)
13. Sub Ensemble - 22 21
14. Simbad - Momentum
15. Dorian Concept - Thank Capital Letters
16. Daedelus - Drummery Jam