AMMONCONTACT
With Voices
Ninja Tune/Outside
· Fishing the pure streams of consciousness.
Ammoncontact is the name to know amongst underground hip hop artists in need of beats, and it’s little wonder why. The West Coast duo of Carlos Niño and Fabian Alston have brought a bucketload of rhythmic finesse and a legion of skilled collaborators to their fourth full-length.
On With Voices, Niño and Alston craft a series of 16 detailed miniatures dominated by gurgling synths and intricate rhythms, with a slew of guests holding a mic or an instrument on most tracks. Bay Area rapper Sach turns up on a pair, including clave-heavy stunner "Into 777," Kamau Daood unleashes a Last Poets-esque stream of consciousness in his commanding baritone on "A Zillion Tambourines," and Brother J of living legends X-Clan turns up with Jurassic 5 vinyl-itcher Cut Chemist over "Drum Riders." However, it’s Ammon’s teamup with perennial favourite (and former Battleaxe Warrior) Abstract Rude that’s the standout. Ab shows off a relaxed, yet capable, smooth sing-rap style over a tremolo Rhodes and a Larry Graham bass line.
The instrumental numbers don’t mope around either, as "One For Ayler," "Elevation" and album closer "Life Force Contact" illustrate, marrying African beats to Stockhausen blips in a give-and-take that shouldn’t work as well as it does.
Ammoncontact have brought a vast wealth of ideas to With Voices; if there’s one drawback, it’s that they’re all over too soon.
AMMONCONTACT
With Voices
Ninja Tune/Outside
· Significantly better than New Birth, released earlier this year.
Ammoncontact’s experimentation with minimalist beats and samples yields a bounty when paired with a diverse range of MCs, such as Sach, Lil Sci and Dwight Tribe. Brother J and the Cut Chemist add significant flourishes to "Drum Riders," a track that shuffles along with the help of what sounds like a child’s bell, and the title track "With Voices" runs on a game show theme song motif. With the jazz-infused "Beautiful Flowers," With Voices is reminiscent of the Dream Warriors and their collaboration with fellow Ninja Tune labelmates The Herbaliser. On "Elevation" and "Ropepe," Fabian Ammon and Carlos Nino have deftly layered diverse samples, recalling Moby’s haunting work with the Smithson Folkways collection on Play.
While a brief dalliance with 1980s-style electrofunk disrupts the rhythm from time to time, With Voices looks to be a summer stand-out.
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