Time:Line (Extended Edition)

We Say...

Review by Andrea Boston

Dutch producer Nicolay should be the official poster boy for the successful Internet match-up. An exchange with Little Brother’s Phonte Coleman on the notorious Okayplayer message boards led to 2004’s Connected, a border-bending soul collaboration that garnered praise in the underground circuit for its kinetic ingenuity and technological experimentation (Nicolay crafted beats from the Netherlands and Phonte laced them from North Carolina). Four years and two solo projects later, Nicolay once again found himself working the boards, this time striking a partnership with Houston-based emcee Kay of the group the Foundation.

In round two of the Nicolay-and-friends cyberfusions, Phonte’s animated eloquence is replaced by Kay’s southern-fried monotone, adding an element of lethargy to Nicolay's electric compositions. Our introduction to this tag team begins with the title track, a boisterous jam that uses stinging crash cymbals to announce the duo’s arrival. The album simmers with the glittering harmonies of “The Lights,” and maintains a synth-heavy coast until “The Gunshot” which juxtaposes a waste-winding dancehall beat with lamentations on unnecessary gun violence.

Nicolay pulls a handful of gems from his sonic grab bag, toying with raucous horns, birdcalls and heavy keyboard sequences while Kay thumbs through the pages of his life, reflecting on birth, the temptations of fame, love and untimely death. His delivery isn’t mind-blowing, but he has a knack for gripping Nicolay’s rhythms and riding them out to careful completion.