★★★★☆
Master blasters dealing in funk phenomena, straight talking partiers Chris Carrier and Hector Moralez go for the dance floor with on-the-money maker bumps packing bassy stubble and deep filtered disco loops that are hard to defend against. With barely a glory-seeking or shape-holding riff in earshot, the pair’s Lotus position is purely about house beats running deep ruts into the ground while the shuffle and sharpness of hi-hats provides the incision, picking up a hitchhiker of cool, occasionally zingy funk that’s slipped in to keep tastebuds moist.
Taking a little time to get into its stride – the premise is supposedly a road trip through ’90s San Francisco, so the two are obviously gassing up at the get-go – it becomes a party that you can join at any time without needing to play catch up, such is the no gimmicks, just good times and honest endeavor the duo advertise. A long in the tooth taste for an almost throwback US house sound ain’t coming off soft or bland, making it deep house not found fading, with “Disco Remodel” and “Island Breeze” kicking sand in faces with skippy disco redux.
The funk of “Phillies Titan” and “Mystery Streets” keep up the good spirits as well as slickening the attitude of B-boys playing hard-ball, and aren’t cause for any self-indulging interruption. When “Rise of the People” takes center stage, it firms Carrier and Moralez’s status as true old-school junkies showing newbies how it’s done.
File under: Ming & FS,; The Sharp Boys, Armand van Helden