Omniverse Vinilo y CD

Review: Having previously delivered EPs inspired by African, Jamaican and Brazilian musical culture, 4 Hero co-founder Marc Mac continues his imaginary global adventures by paying tribute to Japan in his own inimitable style. He begins by charging onto neon-lit big city dancefloors via the jazz-funk/broken beat/nu-jazz positivity and spirituality of 'Tokyo Nightlife', before reaching for deeper chords, traditional Japanese melodies and extra-percussive bruk rhythms on 'Kambei'. 'Electric City Don't Sleep' joins the dots between YMO, City Pop and the neo-classical works of the late Ryuichi Sakamoto, while 'Yasuke Soul' is a sun-soaked, subtly Far East-infused jazz-funk delight. The whole thing is soul-soaked sonic perfection, as you'd expect from an artist of Marc Mac's experience and calibre.

Review: After a ton of anticipation, Marc Mac's Visioneers project made a fine return late last year with a new album that delivered everything fans love and more. It was a mix of classic hip-hop reimagined, B-boy anthems and jazzy, funky lounge originals of the sort that are all staples of the Visioneers sound. The inclusion of guest musicians from around the globe added real richness to the compositions and now two of the standouts get cut to 45 rpm. 'Raid' is a nice laid-back funk roller with cute melodies over lazy drums that bring to mind a gentle afternoon in the park. Flip it over for 'Hurts So Bad' (instrumental) which is just as airy and organic.

Review: Def Radio marks the return of Marc Mac's long-running Visioneers project. As ever with Visioneers, this record reimagines the default stock of hip-hop's best-stocked jukebox, often beginning from scratch and/or working around a central sample, to either recontextualise a classic or come up with a new song; whatever the case, the key hallmark of a Visioneers album is its live instrumentation, with flaunts a *gauche et droite* mastery over hip-hop's laggard swing. Where this would usually handled by the chance placement of the sample snippet on the timeline alone, here it (sounds) actually drummed in. On Def Radio, lead tune 'The Look Of Love' predominates with its three-note ostinato and unhurried beat flaneur, whilst runner-ups 'Layin' Low, Gettin' High' and 'Cuban Candy Sticks' also stick out as salient among the troupe.