It’s Winter Time. We just survived the Polar Vortex. How did you spend the time, being snowed-in?
Doc Illingsworth made another album.
Illingsworth usually goes 60–40 on his releases, trading off his rapper/lyricist side for his instrumental-inclined producer-side. (Think: those psychedelic, yet groovy jazz trips that Yesterday’s New Quintet or DJ Shadow could go on…blending warm piano samples with 8-bit synth crackles, diced-up strings looping disjointedly over some pensive, subdued beat arrangements).
Things get weirder or dorkier as the tracks flurry forward – some cartoonish vocal cut-ins and Street Fighter II Ultra soundbytes get a little too excited on side two, maybe. But then, that’s been Illingsworth’s M.O. – get you thinking, then get you smiling….but then get you thinking, again. His interest in dissecting some free-jazz grooves into a bit of an agit-electro-pop soundtrack for a nerdy night of insomnia under a blanket of endlessly-falling snow, is juiced with his signature sense for levity by those more colorful samples.
This article appears in Jan 8-14, 2014.
