Troubleman

Despite sounding pretty relaxed, multi-disciplinarian producer Mark Pritchard — ex of experimental UK duos Global Communication and Jedi Knights — is now going by the alias Troubleman. His mid- to down-tempo artist album Time Out Of Mind finds Pritchard following the flight from club tracks to "proper album” with musicians and vocals and everything! But instead of going overly poppy, the chilled-out knob-twiddler instead has created a song-oriented album that pairs shuffling beats with soulful vocals, courtesy of London singers Nina Miranda, Eska and Steve Spacek, all of whom ride the grooves rather than trying to dominate them. The vibe stays pretty squarely within the 21st century bachelor pad aesthetic, mixing up bossa nova, nu-jazz and broken beat and closing on a couple of high notes with the Afrobeat "Strikehard,” which stretches out like a mojito-sipping sunbather over its nine-and-a-half-minute length, and psychedelic backwards-tape closer "Zap.” Troubleman may not match the ambition of, say, early Soul II Soul, but he still stands mind and shoulders above the pack.