Signing zero dB is a really positive step forward for Ninja Tune. Having spent the last few years cementing Zen's place in UK trip-hop/downtempo history, the appearance of Chris Vogado and Neil Combstock's debut album again pushes Coldcut's label to the cutting edge of dance music. Sure, Bongos, Bleeps, & Basslines contains three really strong hip-hop tracks with vocals from Pase Rock (Five Deez, Spank Rock) and Voice, but it's the fresh proto-jazz and world music samples sensually diced up and scattered over warped breaks basslines that really pushes this album to the next level. The swingin' title track is evidence of that alone, jamming warehouse rave synths, afrobeat bongos, reverb vocals and horns, and jive drums into the most innovative house track I've heard since Photek's Solaris, while the Herbaliser-"Theme From Control Center"-like-but-more-ethnic-and-club-friendly "Samba Do Umbigo" hammers the point home. Fuck that bandwagon shit. Ninja Tune is here, has been here for a while, and will stay at the top of the game for many years to come. The beast shows no sign of slowing.
1. te quiero
2. Bongos, Bleeps & Basslines
3. conga madness
4. know what i'm sayin'? feat. Pase Rock
5. samBa do umBigo feat. Heidi Vogel
6. anything's possiBle feat. Voice
7. a pomBa girou feat. Heidi Vogel
8. on the one & three
9. sunshine lazy