(Root And Stem)

Sonic landscape gardening

What’s in Brisbane’s water supply that we’re turning out world-class instrumental hip hop artists like Kurtis SP and Tigermoth? Is somebody grinding up DJ Krush albums and feeding them into the pipes? If they are it’s working and I’ll gladly begin feeding my copies into the grinder – just doing my bit. Kurtis SP started out as a drummer with live hip hop acts Shin-Ki-Row and 2Dogs and like a lot of drummers who’ve turned beatsmiths, he mixes live instrumentation and samples with a precision that stops you from realising where one ends and the other begins. This, his debut album representing 10 years of hard work, is a mixscape you can get lost in. It’s a mix of bedroom chillout and survival horror soundtrack, atmospheric enough to give Burial a run for his money. More Soul is, as the name suggests, soulful as all get-out with an extremely funky beat, horns and bongos, which makes a nice break from the late-night, slightly mournful, almost claustrophobic stuff that is No Passenger’s default sound. The Lost Man is straight back into the doomy kind of stuff, focussing on the taut drums. If Kurtis is playing his own drums on this, then nice work. In just over 45 minutes, No Passenger creates a lush landscape that you’ll want to return to again and again.

****   

JODY MACGREGOR

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