During the booming days of Jazzy lounge and breakbeat music, Modaji (Dominic Jacobsen/Harvey Lindo), started fusing Soul, Bossa, Funk, and Techno to concoct a fresh mixture of beats and melodies. Seven years later, Jacobsen now releases Kid Gloves -A Modaji Long Player, arming himself with a sampler, an essential pair of turntables, and a keyboard to produce twelve hip-hop fueled tracks featuring underground notaries Lacks, Count Bass D and Phillipa Alexander, among others. The CD is a sound production. The artists featured on the tracks are typical, but nothing special. It is Jacobsen's production which shines; it is smooth and creamy at it's most jazzy and deep and banging at it's most ferocious.



Jacobsen hails from Germany where hip-hop is gradually becoming a major force in the music industry. Germany has had it's accolades in the electronic music industry, producing countless pioneering artists who shook clubs around the world; now, even reggae artists are popping up in Germany, and it won't be long before Germany creates it's own variation of hip-hop, much like the United Kingdom and Grime. Jazzy lounge music poured out from the minds and equipment of German DJ's and Jacobsen comes from this very mold. The twelve tracks are a nod to these chilled moments and although Jacobsen ventures into hip-hop, he can't seem re-define himself, instead he transports his expertise into this alternate format.



With the sound of a floating synth and a sampled voice, the album opens as though the night is pouring right into your ears. With "Tomorrow's World" Harvey (Jacobsen) creates a rattle cage of a beat which sounds more like the East Coast New York City producers of the mid-to-late 90's then what is being produced nowadays, so it is refreshing. Lacks is not particularly exciting on the microphone, but the message is clear and the beat is ominous, it's perhaps my favorite song on the album. Harvey displays his dexterity and variety at conducting beats with soulful swooping pieces such as "Lifeforce", a dance hip hop tune, and "The Here And The Now", a rap and sample extravaganza, as well as creating melancholy jazzy tracks such as "This Lonely Girl" and the improvisational instrumental "Kalima".



Like any good DJ, Jacobsen knows that he needs to keep his beats fresh and also move his crowd at the same time, nothing jumps up above the rest and truly gets your head nodding involuntarily but nothing is an odd fit either. The genuine "bangers" on the record, I believe, are: "A Slow Decay" which signals in with a fade-in of a rumbling riveted bass line and a chiming set of cymbals, and "Butterfly", which utilizes an old school drum beat while still managing to spin a web of soulful jazziness around Phillipa Alexander's smooth vocals.



If this was 1999 or 2000 this album would be a hit. With it's infectious beats and excellently crafted melodies and abundant use of samples, it would have fit in right with the best of the lounge lizard DJ's. Unfortunately, it's 2006 and I can only see this as an ode to those times when everyone just wanted to chill-out. If you're still in that mood, nothing will disappoint on Kid Gloves.



Track Listing

1 Tomorrow's World

2 Lifeforce feat. Phillipa Alexander

3 Rugged Individuals feat. Count Bass D

4 The Here and the Now feat. Tableek & Hanif from Maspyke

5 Miller's Lattice

6 Gameshow (Low Risk Factor) feat. Phillipa Alexander

7 This Lonely Girl feat. Roddy Rod from Maspyke

8 The Times feat. Kat Johnson

9 Fifth Circuit Rapture

10 A Slow Decay feat. Tableek & Hanif from Maspyke

11 Butterfly feat. Phillipa Alexander

12 Kalima