San Francisco skateboarding legend and multi-instrumentalist (how'sthat for a resume?) Tommy Guerrero's latest full length disc is a coolblend of latin-jazz and funk grooves with a DJ culture type of feelwhile showcasing his solid guitar playing and knack for composing andarranging. Building on laid-back breakbeat samples, tracks such as"Organism," "It Gets Heavy," and "Thin Brown Layer," fatten up withelectric bass, the odd keyboard and multi-tracked guitars to providesome great riffs and underplayed soloing which give off an impressionof a controlled jam session that doesn't stray much from the intendedgroove. The gentle bossa nova feel of "Thank You MK" lays thegroundwork for bright sounding bass and warm sounding, jazzy guitars toprovide some simple yet beautiful chord progressions that in theoverall setting come across as being very meaningful. Less isdefinitely more. The more traditional latin rhythms and instruments of"Lost Unfound" cement the tune's groove for syncopated bass lines andchoppy guitar to move through minor sounding changes that subtly buildtension throughout repetition. Although Guerrero has a couple of guestdrummers and vocalists (most notably Lyrics Born), he plays all theinstruments throughout the disc's seventeen tracks; very convincingly. Read More
