Menina

They Say...

Review by Jo-Ann Greene, All Music Guide

This Brooklyn based trio are already big in their native Japan, where "Menina," the title track to this, their second album, was a huge club hit. Occasionally compared to Thievery Corporation in their eclectic mix of chill-out styling, and obviously indebted to Massive Attack and occasionally My Bloody Valentine, although the latter less so on this set, the Chimp Beams see themselves as an "electro jazz dub" group. "One Dub" certainly fits that description with its hefty bassline, jazz flecked keyboards, and echoing shards of reggae guitar, which slide into a surf solo that smoothly takes the track out. It's even more apt for "Synthesized," a bluesy, trad jazz number built around hip-hop breakbeats and a faux saxophone that overflows with a late-night, smoke-filled club aura, over which Roger Khlon raps. "Sleep Talking" too features a rapper, Jerome Loston, who takes us on a mesmerizing journey deep into the night, across a track remixed from the trio's original Japanese release. "Menina" has been remixed for the U.S., all spacy effects and lovely lilting guitar. The title translates from the Portuguese as "girl," but there's nothing Iberian about the number, although traces of the Med can be heard on the remixed "Dubzillian," which meshes together Latino edged beats, elegant keyboard work, and a pop-jazz melody somewhat reminiscent of "Girl from Ipanema." Far from Brazil comes "Brooklyn Dub," a tribute to '70s dub and Jamaican melodica hero Augustus Pablo, whose exotic, haunting Far East style is beautifully replicated within, albeit to breakbeats that bounce around the throbbing bassline. But it's the far move adventurous "Jamming Dub," with its intriguing mix of genres where the Chimps stop aping and start creating a unique sound all their own. Across songs like "Lost Nomad" and "Ice Storm," the trio conjure up a complex massing of styles that exquisitely fold in and around each other, from space rock to new wave, Krautrock to dub, jazz to old-school rapping scratch. On "R2-Libyus Mix" they take the adventure right into house territory. Chill this well may be, and mesmerizing to boot, but you'll want to stay alert to catch every mood and stylistic shift, every electronic twist and production trick. A splendid album that may echo of others before it, but still moves magnificently into new terrain.