Jimpster – Domestic Science

A radical departure for Jamie Odell (a.k.a. Jimpster), DOMESTIC SCIENCE takes more from his more dance-oriented Audiomontage moniker. That's not to say that this album is no good; on the contrary, it shares much with other dance-jazz masters such as Atjazz. "Deep Down," for instance, is as deep as it can and should get, while "State of Mind" is a nice downtempo funker. "Fish Island" is deep house that suddenly ends with a jazzy outro, while "Knuckle Shuffle" goes for a more tech feel. "Groove Jumping" is wickedly fun funk, with a vocal sample that you just can't give up; "37,000 ft" continues that vibe. "B:Mine," however, takes things down a notch with a slowburning lullaby. "Pixel Grain" has a tinkling urgency, while the final track, "Fluorescent Blue" has a questionable vocal. Overall, though, it's a step in a new direction, one that Odell handles with grace and, as always, superior musicianship.

I suppose if you'd hoped <i>Domestic Science</i> would sound similar to Jimpster’s previous lefter-o’-field output, it might come as a disappointment that Mr. Odell abandoned his earlier penchant for electronic noodling in favor of upbeat melody and focused, driven rhythm. The somewhat-dated drum n’ bass of <I>Martian Arts</I> and wandering fusion stew of <i>Messages From the Hub</i> certainly have their tighter moments - although always with one foot in the pool of abstract, digressive, Ninja tunes. And yet while the (proper) opening and closing tracks of <i>Messages…</i> gave the listener a fair indication of where Jimpster might head next (i.e. centered fusion with nods to both r’n’b and house) Odell’s Audiomontage persona and release(s) might have prepared one better for the unequivocally successful, funked up experiments Jimpster mixed and matched in the name of <i>Domestic Science</i>.