Low-Fi Classics is a love letter to that scratched, dusty old mix tape that you just couldn’t let go; a simple effective and touching home made soul album by two funky cats at the top of their game. A musical marriage made in heaven filled to the brim with strut, sweetness and singable hooks...

Low-Fi Classics is not, as I was expecting, a mix of old, niche tracks lost in the vaults of time. This is a new album that aims to capture the sound of classic hip hop soul of the '90s. A hard task to accomplish without making a fool of yourself and trampling the memories of a whole generation.

What Mr Bird has managed to achieve is nothing short of a miracle; a slice of modern art that harks back to a bygone era. It encapsulates long forgotten memories pushing all the right nostalgia buttons, to produce an album that doesn't feel out of place in the here and now, while still bringing back floods of memories from when we could move about without aching all over.

Producer, DJ and Multi-Instrumentalist Mr Bird brings influences as diverse as they are unique to the music for Low-Fi Classics, displaying a lightness of touch and a lingering background melancholy to his musical ear that establishes him as an artist with a true voice of his own. Vocalist, Songwriter and all round Powerhouse Greg Blackman, fresh from his collaborative album with DJ Vadim, shows restraint and versatility on this project using many aspects of his unforgettable voice to create memorable, thickly layered soulful jams, flowing effortlessly over Bird’s diverse palette of rhythms.

The album contains 12 tracks (42 min, 11 sec) and is a joy from start to finish.

9

Nick Smithson