- It's hard to decipher the electronic music sound of Atlanta that Kai Alcé claims in his work for his own NDATL Muzik imprint. To these ears, the only bleeps worth noting recently from ATL have been the ones squirted out of the drum machines of guys named Birdman and Lil' Jon. But as Southern hip-hop continues its downturn, perhaps it's time for a new Southern sound to rise again, one that humanizes Atlanta's crude robotic sexuality with an old-school Detroit smoothness.
That's what I hear at least in these re-rerubs of Alce's "Power Thru Pt 3" collaboration with Azulu Phantom. KZR—an alias for Alce—takes over the first two pieces of this digital-only release, luxuriating for a collective 14 minutes of instrumental and vocal versions of the track in the sublime power of a two-chord keyboard riff. Things get even more spare with the Original Broke Down Dub—as you might expect from the name—with Phantom taking center stage, but it's Mush's Classic Sax Mix that stars.
The French producer is exacting where Alce's other mixes are loose, urgent where Alce is laidback. It's a mix that sounds little different from the KZR re-rubs element-wise, but Mush bulks up the bassline and the smooth jazz saxophone works wonders (believe it or not). It's eight minutes of bliss that doesn't exactly get me any further towards understanding what Atlanta has to do with it, but has me in thrall nonetheless.
Tracklist 01. Power Thru Pt 3 (KZR's ReRub)
02. Power Thru Pt 3 (KZR's ReRub Instrumental)
03. Power Thru Pt 3 (Mush's Classic Sax Mix)
04. Power Thru Pt 3 (Original Broke Down Dub)