For over a decade, Brit-rock has proclaimed its green credentials by recycling at least 50% of its material and repackaging it as if it were completely original. By contrast, contemporary Afro-American music's sample culture fetishises reconditioned old licks and beats, while offering much more genuine novelty.
Joseph "Amp" Fiddler is the exception who proves the rule. A Detroit veteran of George Clinton's p-funk unit, his second solo album, but for a cod-ragga toast on I Need You, could well have teleported in from the mid-1970s. Referencing Gil Scott-Heron in the jazz-funk meditation Right Where You Are, August Darnell in the zoot-suited If I Don't, Marvin Gaye in Hustle, Sly Stone in the bone-dry click-track drums, p-funk in the rubber bass and synths, and Shuggie Otis in the spare, stoned melodiousness, Amp also boasts a fine, smoky singing voice and a way-cool pimp hat. If Jamiroquai could concoct a hit career out of a lot less, why not this retro rare-groover?
