“Time Traveller,” the superb title track from the second album by eclectic Los Angeles funk/hip-hop outfit Plantlife, is one of the funniest opening gambits in the past few years, a cross between LCD Soundsystem's “Losing My Edge” and Quasimoto, the helium-voiced alter ego of indie-rap living legend Madlib. Out of the song's large number of quotable rhymes, two will do here: “I told John Lennon he should leave the Beatles/ And I was with Theodore when he scratched the needle.” (He means Grand Wizard Theodore, who introduced the turntable scratch to the hip-hop DJ's arsenal.)

That sums up Plantlife's approach nicely: the group's leaders, singer-songwriter Jack Splash and producer Panda One, clearly adore their big-name forebears, and take liberties with what they've done. “Take It Off” plants a big, juicy one on the records Prince produced as Jamie Starr (the stuttering synths heavily recall Apollonia 6's “Sex Shooter”), and Splash's cracked croak (it warrants those words even — especially — when he sings in falsetto) are very Sly Stone. But whether he's aping Italo-electro (“U Messed It Up, So We Took It Back…”), '70s easy-listening soul (“Your Love”), or post-Chic disco (“Agirllikeyoudeservesamanwhotreatsuhowulike”), Splash and Panda One's lean, smart arrangements… read more »