I love 4-hero.
Not only do they make incredible music but the sheer scope of what they produce is evidence of a deep love of the rich, broad spectrum of black music. Anyone hearing ‘Mr Kirk’s nightmare’,back in ‘91 could be forgiven for thinking that 4hero were in the business of making novelty records but 15 years (!!) of making killer music has put pay to that particular theory, their latest release being no exception.

Whereas ‘Two Pages’ and to a lesser degree ‘Creating Patterns’ sometimes fell victim to the overbearing ambition of it’s creators, ‘Playing with the Changes‘, somehow manages to find enough room to squeeze in all these influences, without sacrificing their own distinctive voice. A good example this is the track, ‘Morning Child’, which, whilst positively haunted by the ghost Charles Stepney still manages to retain that unique (ex-)dollis hill, future soul vibe.

People go crazy about the production skills of the late, great jdilla. But for all his undeniable talent he was working within the relatively conservitive fields of hiphop and rnb. These guys hit up jazz, broken beat, detroit techno, soul, funk ,house and a load of styles that don’t really have names yet and somehow manage to represent in all of them.

Sometimes it’s easier to rain down love on artists based in detroit or nyc than the ones who are just around the corner.

Here’s to London’s finest.
4hero-Morning Child