Time Team

Slugabed, a.k.a. Bath's 23 year old Greg Feldwick, has already had a fairly illustrious career. Not only has he had the rare distinction of releasing music with the mighty Planet Mu, but he now offers his most recent creation on the equally mighty Ninja Tune.

Like so much experimental "bass music", a lot of the sounds to be found on Time Team are drawn from a huge array of different influences. After a soundscape intro, the album kicks off with 'All This Time', a melodic hip hop number with soaring vocal samples and grizzly bass which drift in and out of electronica. It's saccharine but also reminiscent of the great Amon Tobin for all the right reasons. Other tracks like 'Moonbeem Rider' fit more into the modern vibe and flow of 'future hip-hop'.

Further highlights come in the form of the gloriously dubby 'Mountains Come Out of the Sky', which fuses a cheeky synth melodica with sci-fi bleeps and a distant, positive yet slightly infantile melody. It is sound collage of the highest order and I applaud it. I also like 'Grandma Paints Nice', albeit reluctantly, because like the majority of music on the record, it is very cheesy. This is not a new facet of the genre, but the true masters manage to neatly avoid it, only hinting at it in the most crafty and subtle of ways. Not so with Slugabed, who remains in my opinion very much a disciple.

I like this release a lot but I don't find it particularly original. Slugabed's choice of sounds may be bizarre to the untrained ear, but what is happening is no different to the recent works of a whole host of luminaries. A few years ago this music would undoubtedly have been groundbreaking, but as it stands it simply remains a strong example of a well-established approach. Producers in this world make synthy music with strange harmonies combined with techy drums and polyrhythm. It is the music of our times and you can rest assured, your Dad won't like it. I do, but in many ways against my better judgement.