FFWD Weekly
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CD Review by Rob Faust VARIOUS ARTISTS Tummy Touch Untouchables Tummy Touch Records (U.K.) · Any album that suggests it is best listened to while naked has got to be worth a spin. Just when you thought beat music has been strangled to death by the iron fist of sameness and 4/4, along comes a welcome reprieve. Long preferring the jazzier and funkier organic side of the beat, Tummy Touch (the label responsible for Groove Armada) has culled together another small sampling of its rhythmic diversity that runs the gamut from fucked up breaks to afro/Latin flavored house. Featuring tracks from Tim Love Lee, Los Chicharrons, Tutto Matto, Organic Audio, Bhagwan Love, Mescalito and the Armada, Untouchables proves that the dancefloor need not belong exclusively to one slice of the beat music pie. In fact, all tracks seem to nod and pay homage to a bygone era without enlisting the clichés associated with any particular genre. Tutto Matto’s "Hugs and Kisses" sits comfortably next to ’70s space funk, while Los Chicharrons explore the sexy side of soul ’n’ breaks in "Silence Before the Storm," and, of course, the Armada scour the polyrhythmic basin for ample chill-out fodder. While not an album that will light up the floors of this city’s bars, it serves as reminder of the necessity for progression in the electronic realm. 5/5

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