New Sector Movements – Download This
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Hip Hop / Drum n Bass / BreaksVintage Vinyl 2X12" / 8 EUR
Media NM / Sleeve VG+
Calling New Sector Movement’s sound “ahead of its time” is something of a misnomer: the arrangements and playing of this group draws from jazz fusion while tipping its West London derby to R&B and drum & bass. Producer/percussionist I.G. Culture leads this incredibly diverse unit of players and singers through a massively plotted pool of grooves that shake you up with their production: you may literally find yourself scared that an album this good could go so unheralded.
Despite the apparent influences of this record and its producer, none of it sounds even remotely lifted. This is the type of music that Herbie Hancock, George Duke or Lonnie Liston Smith would have still been making if they hadn’t had a bite of commercial success and opted to stick to their fusion guns. The music here is both traditionally-minded and entirely fresh at the same time on every track, period.
Appearances from Frank McComb, Julie Dexter, Eric Appapoulay and a slew of others ground the album in a hip-deep swath of funk and two-step beats that somehow melds the 70s tone with a contemporary set of production values almost entirely unseen in the current industry. The original version of “Sun” (the version that appears on Vikter Duplaix’s “DJ Kicks” compilation is a remix) still has a fast and furious beat, but is embued with so much more soul than its American counterpart it’s a wonder the remix ever got released.