Review Summary: Grooves classic soul, funk, r&b, and rock samples into a gooey center of beat driven nostalgia
When it comes to hip-hop music, there is no label that can quite match the quality that comes out on Stones Throw records. Whether it's the smooth electro-funk of California's Dam-Funk, the experimental madness from producing great Madlib, or the heroic poetry from the illest villain MF Doom, a dense catalog and a wide range of different flavors give Stones Throw the edge in today's hip-hop market. J.Rocc is no exception to this quota. Since the mid-80s he's been spinning records around California's turntable scene, and his latest effort showcases that experience. The album manages to groove classic soul, funk, r&b, and rock samples into a gooey center of beat driven nostalgia.
The first thing that comes to mind when listening to Some Cold Rock Stuf are two records; DJ Shadow's Endtroducing and The Avalanches' Since I Left You. Both of those records border experimental hip-hop, by literally being constructed frame by frame from samples. Some Cold Rock Stuf is also heavily sample based; with lounge hall horns, blues riffs, muted jazz bass, and wobbly p-funk thrown into the mix to create the sound of fractured time frames. That fractured atmosphere translates to songs completely transforming on command. 'Malcolm Was Here (Part 1+2)' drives around a fuzzy horn sample while a wood block directs the traffic of eclectic free drums, before a head nodding low end beat crashes into the wall of subs filling the air to breathe the track new life.
That is the nature of this beast. 'Play This (Also)' goes through multiple skin changes of Indonesian chanting, mechanical guitar riffing, distant funk grooves, and muted bass frenzy before becoming engulfed in a lovely (very Endtroducing-esque) outro. Still the most impressive track is one that stays away from that all-over-the-place aesthetic, on 'Stay Fresh'. With warm bass plunges and a break beating live kit, it remains the most sentimental piece on the album, but is criminally cut short at just under the minute and a half mark.
The album holds a sense of cohesion in the way that all of the samples sound like their from a similar source, like the same aisle in the record store. The vocal samples add more that idea, in the way the tell the "story" of a song, even if it times they are a bit gimmicky. Although it's relaxing to hear an album like this; one that doesn't feature any necessarily weak tracks, but one that doesn't feature a lot of particular stand outs. That's because it works on the level a full "album" more than most, focusing on the greater sound rather than the individual. That's impressive, considering how it's individual little bits of music that make up that greater sound.
