Agent K

Broken-beat multi-instrumentalist, producer and member Kaidi Tatham has chalked up a number of credits on music emerging from this movement, such as contributing to New Sector Movement's Download This. As a member of the Bugz in The Attic crew, Tatham has maintained a rigorous work ethic with various offshoot projects, yet he has actually managed to maintain a relatively low profile as an artist in his own right, and so it's perhaps rather fitting that he has used the rather clandestine moniker of Agent K to issue his first solo project. Although it starts out mellow, with down-tempo, spacy grooves, such as the appropriately titled "Orbit," things start to pick up with the background party atmosphere and catchy chants that accompanies the title track. A definite bonus on this release is the contribution Tatham gets from his guest artists. On the rough yet very smooth "Rideaway, Getaway," he commissions the ethereal presence of ex-Young Disciples vocalist Carleen Anderson, while on the gorgeous 11-minute opus "Hands," he brings in the poetry and vocals of Joy Jones and Vanessa Freedman. On some of the instrumentals the grooves get a little drawn out, and it seems his collaborations with others where he really seems to fashion the track for his collaborator is where we see Tatham at his best. On last year's dance floor success "Betcha(Did)," with vocalist/violinist Izzi Dunn, Tatham perfectly heightens the tension of Dunn's "told you so" taunting of her ex-lover with piercing strings above the skittery drum patterns. And on the sublime "Ladies," featuring Don Ricardo, he fashions a supremely stylish groove that not only puts the icing on Ricardo's vocal chivalry, but also reveals he's thoroughly ingested the influence of pioneering jazz-fusion artists. If he continues to put out more classy material like this, Tatham will need more than an obscure moniker to hide behind.