Tom Tyler

It's been a busy few years for producer Tom Tyler, who released his debut album, Asleep at the Switch, last year to much critical acclaim. The hip-hop lovin', instrumental maestro has since remixed artists such as Cinematic Orchestra and Sofa Surfers, and is now at work on album number two. In the meantime, DC have compiled some of Tyler's vinyl-only output from '98 and '99 to tide fans over with this limited CD-only collection. While it doesn't have the same flow as the album, this singles collection shows consistent talent and offers up some great tunes. "Weed Mechanics," with its solid drum loops, horns, found sounds and twist of mystery, is a great, delay-laden soundtrack-y number, reminiscent of early DJ Shadow or Mo' Wax releases. "Swing Children" is similar in approach, but with a groovy, gritty, jazzy, hip-hop feel that would lend itself nicely to the Digable Planets, if they were still recording. "Third Plane" lopes along, all wide-eyed, slowed funk while the previously unreleased "Eyeball" is a down-tempo beatster that goes down sweet, flutes, Rhodes, groove changes and all. Things get darker with the sparse "A Funny Turn," and the absolutely killer "Attitude Adjuster," bringing a slowed 23 Skidoo to mind and is familiar to anyone who picked up Kid Loco's DJ Kicks comp. The real gem here, however, is "Ode to the Lizard," an entirely abstract, utterly brilliant, quirky jazz affair. Yum.