Out There

by The Heliocentrics

It's interesting to me, how cyclical my musical tastes can be. I first started listening to hip-hop in middle school, but became bored of it in the early 90s, and made the switch to electronica - the less dancey the better. As I finished university, I had become exhausted with that genre, and found that there was fertile ground in the underground hip-hop scene.

Lately, I have been finding myself going back to funk and jazz with a slightly electronic feel (like some trance music, played with live instruments). This album more or less fits into that genre for me. It's smooth and easy on the ears, being exactly the type of thing that I have come to expect from Egon's Now-Again label.

I bought this in anticipation of the new Heliocentrics album, with Mulatu Astkake, when I discovered that HMV's $6.99 Stones Throw promotion was still on. It was definitely a worth-while purchase.