24 Hr Sports＜限定盤/Translucent Red Vinyl＞

メインストリームやアンダーグラウンドシーンでも注目のレーベルBig Crown Recordsの主宰者でありプロデューサー/トラックメイカーとして活躍するEl Michels Affairによる新作が完成。80～90年代の『Sports Illustrated』誌のファッションやグラフィックデザイン、MF DOOMの『Special Herbs』シリーズやサンプリングソース、そしてT.L. Barrett牧師に代表されるゴスペル音楽からインスピレーションを得て制作された作品。今までの作品に多く見られたインスト中心の構成から一線を画し、ノラ・ジョーンズ/Clairo/坂本慎太郎/Rogeなど多彩なヴォーカルゲストを迎えている。限定Translucent Red Vinyl

Fueled in part by the visual aesthetics of 80s and 90s Sports Illustrated, Leon Michels could have taken the ball and really run with it for 24 Hr Sports. Instead, the title is only a little more indicative of its contents than that of Yeti Season, El Michels Affairs non-conceptual preceding album as lone headliner. Theres a marching band intro, two interstitial themes, a song with soccer-referencing lyrics (in Portuguese), and another features a chorus (however blurred) declaring "We want the gold!" In other words, nothing approaches Jock Jams territory or even remotely resembles Chuck Mangiones "Give It All You Got." Athletically-uninclined listeners neednt worry about being bombarded with sports stuff. 24 Hr Sports is largely standard EMA, reconstituting and contemporizing psychedelic soul with touches of jazz, funk, and hip-hop, and elements of vintage sounds from Jamaica and Brazil. The guest vocalists nearly span the wide world, representing the States, as well as Brazil (Roge), Ghana (Florence Adooni), and Japan (Shintaro Sakamoto and the Suginami Childrens Choir), and altogether factor in the album resembling a patchwork. "Say Goodbye," an easy-rocking pop-soul showcase for Adooni, and "Take My Hand," a spirit-lifter voiced by the Fabulous Rainbow Singers (and Rahsaan Roland Kirks sampled saxophone solo), are the most noteworthy vocal numbers. Just beneath them are the blissful and dubbed-out "Shining," where Michels furtively takes the mike, and the smeared sunshine pop of "Open Season." Norah Jones and Clairo co-write and front a song each, and while both tunes are soothingly pleasant, neither would have stood out on Visions or Charm, the 2024 LPs Michels produced for those artists. Among the instrumentals, the harder the drums, the better the track, as the gnashing "Cortex" demonstrates. The fusion factor is highest on "Oakleys Car Wash" (presumably a shout-out to the Yonkers business owned by former NBA star Charles Oakley), a brief, kicked-back delight with a dip-and-dive solo from Roots trumpeter Dave Guy. Pieces such as "Eastside" and "Victory Lap" have enough space to accommodate, say, Black Thought reciting a Ralph Wiley column with the use of a football phone. Maybe that would have been too on the nose. ~ Andy Kellman

ノラ・ジョーンズやクレイロを手掛けた効果もあってか、ここにきてフォーカスが当たってきたリオン・マイケルズ。彼のプロジェクトによる新作は、そんな評価に応えるべくそのノラやクレイロ、坂本慎太郎などいつになく多彩なゲストを迎え、いつもの趣味人っぽいノリから一歩踏み出した親しみやすい内容だ。サイケもソウルもアフロも取り込んだモダンな音はもちろん最高!
bounce (C)狛犬