Nightmares on Wax

DJ-KICKS

(Studio K7)

Like many UK bedroom producers reared on American hip-hop, Nightmares on Wax's George Evelyn makes moody, pitter-patter breakbeats that are short on actual musicality but big on blunted atmosphere. Some would describe his instrumentals as "abstract," but that's just being generous. But that's the ironic beauty of German label Studio K7's DJ-Kicks series: it makes artists whose music you wouldn't normally listen to suddenly palatable, because the producers making beats are now record-selecting DJs kicking out other people's jams. In compiling his mix CD -- the 16th in the respected series previously helmed by the likes of Thievery Corporation and Carl Craig -- Evelyn reveals his obvious affection for hip-hop. He slips in undeniable classics, like A Tribe Called Quest's "Award Tour" (sandwiched between Kenny Dope's bastardizing club hit "Superkat" and a rare-groove jammy by John Cameron), New York underground head-bobbers such as DITC's "Thick," and gems from new-schoolers like Saukrates and Blackalicious. But Evelyn can't resist deploying tracks that share his affinity for spacy, lethargic beats -- some interesting, others numbing in their noodling. All of it makes for a more dynamic listen than any of his own albums, but it seems Evelyn's missed an opportunity to convince us that there's more to him than being, well, abstract.

-- Joseph Patel