Soul Vibrations

It's hard to believe that it's been five years since the last J-Boogie's Dubtronic Science album (not counting the Live in the Mix mixtape project from 2004), since J-Boogie has hardly been out of the public eye or off the touring circuit since. On his sophomore effort he brings live horn and percussion sections into the studio to add flavor to his beats and to complement a wide-ranging array of vocalists. Albums like this are often focused too completely on the beats, leaving the melody instruments and singers to serve primarily as ornamentation. J-Boogie's approach is more holistic, and actually keeps the emphasis on the songwriting, without stinting on rhythm. And the rhythms themselves are widely varied: "Revolution" features both coolly delivered rapping by Lyrics Born and a niftily complex hip-hop beat, spiced up by dubwise production flourishes; "Que Pasa" is a Latin funk romp with Spanglish rapping by Deuce Eclipse; and "Together" is a swinging and soulful R&B number with lovely, lazy vocals by Jennifer Johns and tasteful turntable scratching woven throughout. An old-school vocoder brings a fun retro flavor to "1.4.U." and a nice flute part offsets Ted De Oliveira's rather lame vocals on "Alegria." Overall, this is a very impressive sophomore effort from a guy who is shaping up to be a major player on the international dance music scene.