LORD レコード& CD

Review: Matt Lord has been working on and off with the 2000 Black crew since the early 2000s, though it's only in recent years that he's stepped out of the shadows. He first officially collaborated with Dego on a joint EP in 2018, the rather fine One Way To Another, and here the pair reunite for another jaunt through jazz-funk-influenced EP rich in rubbery bass guitar lines, jammed-out keys, and on EP standouts 'Mandarin Delight' and 'Bee Side Inside', fizzing disco synths and guitars. Yet while those two flipside cuts draw heavily on disco and boogie for inspiration, the rest of the EP revolves around broken beats, with Lord and Dego adding their jazzy and funky touches to heavy bruk-up rhythms.

Review: UK dance legend, Dego, is back on his own 2000black imprint, stomping and storming through the place with nothing but ethereal house vibes. He's got Lord with him this time, a newcomer onto the block, and it's clear that the duo has some chemistry running real deep - "One Way To The Other" chugs along to a jazzy note, made more danceable by a heavy bassline, while the flip kicks off with "Oh It's You Again", a dusty house nugget with the sort of percussion that recalls the early 90s Detroit era; "The Island" is a continuation of that, this time dubbier and more beat-centric, and "When You Get It" further develops the groove with a gentle, melodic string of jazzed-out notes. All killer - no filler!

Review: It would seem we're back on the Christmas card list... 2000 Black supergroup comprising the likes of Dego, Mensah and original Bugz members Lord and Tatham have been slowly ramping up their releases again and this year has seen their largest output yet. Following "Two Way Here One Way Go", "Simmering" proffers three more sublime and silky instrumentals from deeply decorated foursome. "Simmering" is a tight jazz funk jam with a sprung guitar groove spine and a blissful switch into soothing flutes midway, "Private Life" flips for a sunnyside digidub, all spacious and rippling with its breezy keys while "Climb The Sun" brings us back to the funk root note but with rising synth insistency that's bruk to the bone. Simmering now, boiling tomorrow...

Review: The latest missive from the reliable 2000 Black camp is a collaborative affair, featuring the combined talents of Kaidi Tatham, Mr Mensah, Matt Lord and Dego (this time under the Ranks alias). With such talent on show, it's unsurprising that A-side "Two Way Here One Way Go" - a rolling, club-ready fusion of Tony Allen style drums, Afro-futurist sounds and killer musical touches - is thoroughly fantastic. It's accompanied by two tasty B-sides: a pitched down, synth-heavy shuffler entitled "No Facetime (Errors)" and the starry, up-tempo, Herbie Hancock style jazz-funk-meets-Restless Soul grooves of "BBQ".

Review: Back in 2012, the collective talents of Dego, Kaidi Tatham, Mr Mensah and Matt Lord combined for a superb album on 2000Black. Last year saw the quartet reconvene in the studio for a 12" snappily titled Off The Christmas Card List (possibly named in homage to anyone calling their music broken beat) which was mooted as a precursor to a new LP! Another taster now arrives on 2000 Black in the shape of the Cascade 12", brandishing a triplet of toasty future boogie standards primed for dancefloor deployment. The warm Rhodes, shuffling percussion and occasional twisted FX of "The Inside Is The Outside" stand out, as does the sweet soul strut of "The Believer", though there is a reason the title track hogs the A-side. That reason? It's a delight!

Review: Last spotted together on the cut some three years ago with their eponymous debut LP, the crew like Kaidi Tatham, Akwasi Mensah, Matt Lord, and Dego 'Ranks' McFarlane reunite for this fresh 2000Black 12". Off the Christmas Card List is apparently a precursor to a second album from the quartet and it's the last 12" in a fine year for 2000Black that saw the killer Dego LP as the centrepiece. The A-side is dedicated to the title cut, an endlessly slinky boogie number that really showcases the collective musicality of this crew, whilst the B-side is split between "Hurry Whilst They Are Away" and "Fila High". The former is bugged out beat down West London-style, and the latter a killer Latin-flecked cut.