Bumps

Who better to make an album of break beats than the chief percussionists in Tortoise? John McEntire, John Herndon and Dan Bitney have incorporated all manner of cultures and musical genres for their inventive work in Tortoise, and their experiments with polyrhythmic sounds and time signatures never fail to get heads nodding in appreciation. Indeed, hip-hop has played a significant role in their evolution as players and their flirtation came to a head on their collaboration with Buck 65 for his last record. With Bumps, the trio do not turn in a hackneyed effort that plays at conventional hip-hop rhythms. On the contrary, over the 23 beats here they bend ideas of what hip-hop is all about, messing around with tempos, sonic textures and feels, assuredly challenging both the medium and themselves. As they continue to prove in Tortoise and now with Bumps, when it comes to rocking beats, no one can touch these rhythm aces.