Slugabed - Time Team

Slugabed is the gastropod themed moniker of producer Greg Feldwick who unleashes his debut album on the much revered Ninja Tune label. Opener ‘New Worlds’ draws you in with it’s almost hip hop like beats and swirling chords before ‘Sex’ takes you for a dirty Chromeo channelling electronic spin onto the dance-floor. Of all the tracks here it’s the one which works by far the best in isolation with it’s chunky baseline and infectious beat.

By way of contrast ‘All This Time’ whisks the listener into ethereal dream like territory whilst cleverly fusing abrasive stabs with trance like undertones. Proceedings take a darker twist with the menacing ‘Moonbeam River’, a pounding assault of heavy bass and howling wolf sounds that is equal parts unique and unsettling. The musical tour de force continues on ‘Travel Sweets’, a delicious slab of swirling sexual electro funk with a smattering of vocal snippets thrown in for good measure. ‘Unicorn Suplex’ takes up many of these same elements, adding a pinch of Parliament/Funkadelic to a generous serving of UK garage baseline to create a fresh and totally original sound.

Transitioning into the latter half of the record is the effortlessly smooth ‘Dragon Drums’ which slows down the tempo nicely, acting as a pleasant if somewhat unremarkable segueway before ‘Mountains Come Out Of The Sky’ shakes proceedings up, building gently to a mesmeric collision of bleeps and blips. ‘Grandma Paints Nice’ embraces the same electro funk elements explored earlier but with more of a seductive edge. The sound is best akin to a futuristic twist on those old school r&b jams that you used to slow dance to before R&B was pillaged by the likes of Messrs. Guetta and Harris.

‘Climbing A Tree’ threatens to derail the record with it’s infuriating auto-tuned vocals but the closing duo of ‘Earth Claps’ and ‘It’s When The Future Falls Plop On Your Head’ redress the balance. ‘Earth Claps’ has a warm head popping baseline underpinned with gorgeous synths like those great early Eighties electro records from the likes of Debbie Deb whilst the closing track is disparate collation of otherworldly noises and alien sounds that induces a feeling of impending doom.

Once again Ninja Tune have come up trumps. ‘Time Team’ is a hugely rewarding album that delivers rich emotional laden electronic music with a human heart and an impressive debut. Just don’t mention the word dustup.