(EasyLeague/Shock)

Well-rounded record of futuristic hip hop, psychedelia and soul

Main creative force behind ambitious hip-hop outfit Plantlife, Jack Splash, has collaborated with the cream of the R&B crop (Alicia Keys, John Legend, Beyonce etc), and has made one previous record with his beatnik future funksters , the confusingly titled The Return Of Jack Splash. New album Time Traveller takes his musical obsessions and casts them over an expansive 19 songs – and while Plantlife attract the ‘hip hop’ tag, Time Traveller is only hip hop in the way that Outkast’s Speakerboxx/The Love Below is hip hop. Which means that the record takes the listener on a mind-boggling but always entertaining journey through psychedelia, soul, funk and rap. There are tasty electro beats in Take It Off, Prince-esque guitar solos in Lovetoy, vintage avant-funk jamming in Outta Control and tender lovers’ soul in Fool For U. Its 70 minutes mean you’re in for a lengthy trip (and some of these hi-tech concoctions can blur into one another), but Time Traveller is a mostly immensely satisfying and ambitious statement from one of modern soul’s genuine mavericks.

***˝

MATT THROWER

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