Homespun: Phaseone, Thanks But No Thanks

As a songwriter, Phaseone relies on a few pet sounds: '80s orchestral synths, sharp-edged hi-hats and loads of reverb. His use of samples is tasteful and discreet (you'd have to be a hell of a crate digger to pick them out) and, on a song like "Temp Tags/Starfox," he is able to conjure some subwoofer-punishing Moog bass lines. This tension -- Vangelis' synth rig mixed with Dr. Dre's drum machine, all run through an Echoplex -- guides the entire disc. "Tower Grove Joint" has both the breathy pulse of a sweaty booty jam alongside gossamer synth pads and a steady shower of sampled flutes and blippy analog bits and bytes. The album-closing "Alladat" is the most immediate of the tracks here: The stutter-step beat undercuts a soulful electric-piano lick and heavily reverbed vocal samples. At two-and-a-half minutes, the track ends far too soon -- rapture seems just around the corner.