Paul Conboy and Adrian Corker create instrumental music with mostlyelectronic percussion and nuance, but layered with acoustic guitars.Once I slipped their debut on the stereo, I was immediately at ease,relaxed, and open to every possibility. Playful bass and latin jazzrhythms mark one track, slower moody computer whines and echoed guitarthe next, but throughout there's a coordinated groove or feel thatevery composition nuzzles up to lovingly. It's not stunning,demonstrative, or the next big style shift, but it doesn't have to beto be effective. Corker/Conboy may borrow a bit from the aesthetic ofothers — Tortoise, Pullman, and Isotope 217 come to mind — but itdoesn't mean they breathe any less life into their work. Playing mostof the instruments themselves, the duo have a true fluidity and ease totheir songs. The music starts off lightly, establishing rhythm andtempo, and doesn't build so much as coagulate. Each part or instrumenthas its own time, its own place, but ultimately they exist to fulfillthe needs of the whole composition. Listening to a track like "From theHip," hearing its simplicity, and being thrown slightly by the littletinges here and there set my mind at ease, almost into REM-like stasis.One minute I was in a sweaty nightclub hearing a neo jazz outfit, thenext in the rainforest hearing the most advanced tribe of natives tapout their steady labor. In Light of That Learnt Laterflows through despite its various genre bends, and it's an excellentdriving companion — the best compliment I can think to give it. Read More
