The Range

James Hinton (aka the Range) is the latest producer to serve up a mix'n'match offering of different genres — a nod to the handful of styles he skilfully incorporates into his first full-length, Nonfiction. Though it falls a touch on the ambient side, Hinton's ability to almost seamlessly weave together elements of hip-hop, grime and jungle is what makes Nonfiction so distinct from other similar records, which suffer from genre overload and disconnect. The song structures are surprisingly simple — looped kick drum, a layer of cowbell or other percussion and a layer of chimes — but it's the melodic vocals and minor synths that penetrate or enter unpredictably that turn the minimal into something astoundingly full and rich. "Seneca," for example, builds upon a basic beat before the percussion is amplified and the song moves into a jungle throwdown. Whether intentional or not, bonus points go to closer "Metal Swing," which sounds like it could have been pulled straight from LCD Soundsystem's self-titled album.