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So, has he done it again? He says he wasn’t looking to do an Upwards Vol. 2 and on first listen, there’s only the “Here We Go” call on ‘What U Want’ that makes it the immediate song on the album whilst ‘The Idea’ harks back to the classic, ‘The Tale’ of the debut album, Awkward.

He’s certainly been busy promoting the album as evidenced by the Gilles Peterson interview and session, he did a recorded piece for Radio 1’s ‘In New Music We Trust’ on John Peel Day and this week he was on Kiss FM’s with Big Ted and Shortee Blitz and the cover of the first nationwide issue of One Week To Live. Hard to fathom then that it got only a 13 word review in the current issue of DJ for a four star album!

So does that get us any Closer? Certainly does as ‘Don’t Watch That (Knickers, Y Fronts and Jockstraps)’ is genuinely funny and makes life feel good. Ty does it again. Peterson seemed a little dismissive that some of the artists that have collaborated on the album are from the US; like Joy Jones, De La Soul/Maseo and Taylor McFerrin. Although he said in that interview that he was a MySpace addict, on Wednesday he explained he was only working with artists that wanted to be involved on Closer. There was no record company A&R input and he met Bahamadia at the Red Bull Academy (wonder if he met Max Cole?).

Bahmadia features on a track called ‘Oh!’ which was originally called ‘Rwanda’. You’re not going to get many taking about such subject matter as genocide but you’ll find Ty a somewhat complicated chap. He’s clever, thoughtful, introspective, outward looking, good-time, old skool, soulful hip hop b-boy.

He joked on Wednesday that ‘Sophisticated and Coarse’ was like him and Eska but listen, this is no David Banner/E-40 album. We love the nu-jazziness and stand out tracks are the single, ‘Closer’ (just out) that features Maseo (of De La Soul) with a b-side remix by the great (as ever) Blackbeard, ‘Don’t Watch That (Knickers, Y Fronts and Jockstraps)’ and ‘What You Want’ (with Taylor McFerrin on beatbox) and ‘Hustle (That’s Why We)’ with Rich Medina.

Whilst he’s quite the clever wordsmith, he’s no arrogant know all. There’s always a smile just around the corner with his rapping and the music is as excellent, if not better, as his previous album releases (check ‘Closer’ again, almost cinematic colliery brass band beats, I wanna “Walk on by with Dionne”).

Reviewed: Ty - Closer (Big Dada) Cat. No. BD098 (2xLP) Release date: 16th Oct 2006.

Tracklisting:
A1. Don’t Watch That (Knickers, Y Fronts And Jockstraps)
A2. Everybody
A3. This Here Music featuring Speech (Arrested Development)
B1. The Idea - featuring De La Soul
B2. What You Want (Taylormade) featureing Taylor McFerrin (beatbox), Jason Yarde (Saxophone) and Joy Jones
B3. Closer featuring - Maseo
C1. Oh! featuring Bahamadia & Zion I
C2. Aim For Your Goals featuring Eska
C3. Sweating For Your Salary featuring - Dele Sosimi and Wunmi
D1. Sophisticated And Coarse featuring Eska
D2. L.O.V.E (No Matter What) featuring Vula
D3. Hustle (That’s Why We) featuring Rich Medina

Links:
www.bigdada.com
www.tymusic.org
www.myspace.com/tyandupwards
www.joyjones.com
www.myspace.com/lovejonesrecords
www.myspace.com/jasonyarde
Gilles Peterson :: Thursday 5 October 2006 :: TY Live in Session & Patrick Forge
Ty - ‘What You Want’ & ‘Closer’ (Live in session)
Gilles Peterson :: Thursday 3 September 2006 :: Ty, ZerodB & Max Cole
Ty in The Studio
Ty ft Taylor Mc Ferrin - ‘What You Want’ (Big Dada)
Ty ft Dela Soul - ‘The Idea’ (Big Dada)
Masta Killa - ’ Brooklyn Kings’ (Instrumental) (Nature Sounds
Ty ft Bahamadia, Zion - ‘Oh!’ (Big Dada)

www.totalkiss.com Big Ted and Shortee Blitz 9.00 -11.00pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiss_100
www.djmag.com
www.oneweektolive.com Issue 47 16-22 October, 2006
Gilles Peterson :: Thursday 17 July 2005 :: Roisin Murphy & Natalie Williams
17) Natalie Williams Feat. TY - ‘That’s The Way We Like It’ (White)
18) Coblestone Jazz - ‘Gumbordinary’ (It Is What It Is Recordings)
19) Goldie Feat Natalie Williams - ‘Latin Lick’ (Metalheadz)
20) Natalie Williams - ‘Secret Garden’ (White)