Amp Fiddler – Afro Strut

An amazing record. Not that it sounds just incredible, super dynamic and clean, but the music is great. Full of surprises, makes you get up and move.

A far more diverse and substantial offering than "Waltz of a Ghetto Fly", this finds Mr. Fiddler branching out into new territory previously unexplored by him and, in some occasions, almost anyone else. While we get the by-now expected funky soul that he does so well in many places, particularly on the last two sides of the record, there are a number of good or great surprises here to knock it up a couple levels. Chief amongst these is "I Need You", a dancehall-funk number featuring guest deejaying and such uncommonly excellent exectution that the album almost gets a 5 for that alone - one of the best cuts I have heard in awhile. The rest are no slouches either, with disco-funk explored on a couple of occasions, some jazzy ideas thrown in, and loads of other ideas all realised more fully than before. It's not really necessary to go track-by-track, because they are all strong and the record has an excellent sense of ebb and flow, great produciton, and a nice variety of tracks. Well done, again.