Chaz Jankel – Too Woo Lady Kong / 3,000,000 Synths
April 27th, 2007 by rui
The title track is essentially an instrumental rerub of Jankel’s 80s classic ‘Glad To Know You’ – a Paradise Garage anthem. An uptempo reggae groove, with layer upon layer of funky-assed keys. The 80s heritage shines through in the some of the synth sounds, but that groove just doesn’t let up. Gentle anthem material that you’ll definitely be hearing out this summer.
3,000,000 Synths? On paper a sound engineer’s nightmare – on record an electro flavoured noodly meditation that veers into trippy, twisted disco, with barely intelligible spoken word snippets adding to the should-have-left-the-club-hours-ago atmosphere. The track was originally recorded in 1981 – but if I hadn’t told you that you’d swear it came out of Detroit two decades later. Sean P’s Disco Not Disco edit is precisely that – an edit – no new beats or other distractions, just a nip and tuck in the arrangement.
Chaz’s keyboard skills shine on both tracks – layer, upon layer, upon layer, but never letting go of the groove. A tasty couple of tracks that would warrant attention if they had been recorded yesterday, and it’s hard to believe they’re older than some of the people reading this review.
Well done to Tirk for bringing these tunes back for a well deserved reappraisal.
Too Woo Lady Kong / 3,000,000 Synths was released on Tirk Recordings on 23rd April.
Chaz Jankel performs with The Blockheads at The Big Chill festival in August.
