Gum Drop exist in an electro funk middle ground with hip hop and soul influences. No great surprise there when you look at Rob Mac’s CV of Jumbonics & Speeka (Rob Mac & Matt Smooth), The How (Rob Mac and others), The Imperial (Rob Mac and others), Clean (Rob Mac & Madd Matts) and his production work with Roger Robinson.

To enforce the ethos of Gum Drop, a vocoderish voice on ‘Live Lounge Skit’ spells it out for us. To “mix funky live playing with new technology, preferable with vintage kit… [where] the beats are heavy and the bass is phat.”

The first 12” of ‘Sinking Feeling’ / ‘(Keep On) Burning’ came out last year and featured Randolph Matthews (who sang on the track ‘Rain’ on Ty’s Upwards album). He also sings on ‘Coming Up For Air’, which is one of the better tracks in the electro-funk groove.

Zena Edwards is a new name to me and apparently she’s based in London and is the featured vocalist on ‘Now I Rise’. Inspired by some spacey-rap-poetry on a trip of electro-soul, it’s arguably the most commercial track.

Nobody will ever be as good as the cosmic Atomic Dog George Clinton but some of these tracks are not bad efforts, such as ‘It’s On’ and the two tracks (‘Real’ and ‘Step By Step’) that Def Harmonic’s front man Jason Todd features with a bit of hip hop/P-funk.

There’s certainly no lack of variation on the album and one to warm to is the downtempo funker ‘(Keep On) Burning’ while ‘Block Drop’ is a little electro instrumental shuffler that’s very catchy.

When the drum machine is turned off, Matt Smooth adds ‘live’ drums and percussion and there are some impressive strings from 4-Hero/Massive Attack collaborator, Lucy Wilkins (Like the retro-soul of ‘Take Me Back’).

And, if your unlucky enough that one of the preceeding 13 tracks haven’t won you over, there’s ‘One Last Chance’ to finish things off in a laid back jazz/funk style; with strings! It’s my favourite of the lot. Another one in the jazz-funk revival bag — see Loka for the jazz-fusion revival.

So Gum Drop are not quite Sa-Ra, note quite Peech ‘Don’t Make Me Wait’ Boys, not full blown 4-Hero but not a bad mix for a Hi-Falutin’ boy in the Caledonian Road. Altered Vibes are planning some live gigs for Gum Drop later in the year that will be well worth having a look at.

Reviewed: Gum Drop — Hi-Falutin’ (Altered Vibes) Cat. No. AVBPM005 CD Release date: 24th April, 2006
Tracklisting:
1. Reel (3:18)
2. (Keeps On) Burning (2:51)
3. Live Lounge Skit (2:09)
4. Now I Rise (4:12)
5. It’s On (3:10)
6. Sinking Feeling (3:19)
7. Step By Step (4:01)
8. Block Drop (3:38)
9. Make It Easy (2:54)
10. Bass, Drum & Snare Skit (1:01)
11. Coming Up For Air (3:21)
12. Electro Gum (2:25)
13. Take Me Back (3:15)
14. One Last Chance (4:52)

Gum Drop — Sinking Feeling / (Keeps On) Burning (Altered Vibes) Cat. No. AVR 016 12” Tracklisting:
A1. Sinking Feeling
A2. Sinking Feeling (Instrumental)
B1. (Keeps On) Burning
B2. (Keeps On) Burning (Instrumental)

Links:
www.alteredvibes.com
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