Detrot's Santiago Salazar returns to the Frustrated Funk label under his Seldom Seen moniker. Bringing a gangsta swagger and a lysergic mindset, Seldom Seen bridges that monumental gap between ghetto beats for the corners and mind music for the the psychonauts. Surely gonna be big with all the taste makers and hype followers (NTS / Fact / RA etc), fortunately on this occasion the content DOES deliver as this is some truly unique wigged-out 'n squelchy body music folks. The title track, trailed wonderfully by a flanging, phased locked groove, reframes Justin Timberlake's "Sexy Back" as totally warped electrofunk complete with buzzing sequences, sleazy vocals and a strangely skewed sound design. Seldom Seen takes us deep into the rave haze of the post-peak next via the low end glide, cavernous reverb and disembodied vocals of "Slide Me Yo Luv", before turning back to the boogaloo on "Varrio Funk". Quite possibly the very freak Sexual Harassment were in need of way back when, this infectious body worm works the frequencies with swelling bass, churning keys and prime cuts of choral vox. "Lose That Man" keeps things off the straight and narrow for the B1, its off-centre synth whirlpool veering between Ghetto house vocals and a Paisley Park bassline, while "Deuce And A 1-4" (again coming with its own locked groove) is the trippiest bit of zero g hip hop you'll hear all year long.
STAFF COMMENTS
Matt says: Imagine stumbling into a block party full of twerking ladies and jitting fellers, only you've ingested 500mics of LSD and a whole bottle of tequila. Everything's swirling around, struggling to keep upright but somehow bodies keep bouncing. Could well be the birth of a new musical sub-genre this one people - suggestions on a postcard please!
