Buscemi

It’s now harder than ever to pigeonhole this Belgian producer, named after his favourite actor. Buscemi has made waves in the music scene with his beautiful bossa-house numbers and Latin grooves, but with Camino Real the beat-creater has moved into all sorts of vibes including a little drum and bass, Brazilian and even hip-hop subtleties. Buscemi still shines brightest when he creates high-energy house rhythms surrounded by organic samples such as shakers and flutes that work so well on his Viaje Feliz single that he dropped a couple of years ago as well as the previously-released and utterly brilliant "Midnight Sessions.” Buscemi has teamed up with a number of vocalists for Camino Real, most notably Spearhead’s Michael Franti who lends his pipes to a very sexy "The World Around,” which is actually a nice little R&B jam with a sultry saxophone thrown in to heat things up. The greatest results in collaboration come from Carla Alexander, as she just drops mere vocal tidbits for Buscemi to manipulate within a hip-hop based beat that is filled out by backwards accordion-sounding pulses and soft keys. The fact that some tracks are so much stronger than others makes Camino Real not as rewarding as one would hope from Buscemi’s first record in three years, but when he does nail that perfect rhythm it’s quite a beautiful thing.