Nightmares on Wax Prepare Fifth LP

Semi-accurate at its best, a marketing ploy for the over-30 crowd at its worst, trip-hop at its height was blunted hip-hop beats mixed with a dash of jazz and a dollop of house music and given a fuzzy name.

Nevertheless, there were a few gems to pop up from this morass. One of the masters of the genre was and is George Evelyn, aka DJ E.A.S.E., aka Nightmares on Wax, who, after creating classic rave-era singles such as "Dextrous" and "Aftermath" became one of the leaders of the Headz crowd. His 1995 and 1999 albums Smokers Delight and Carboot Soul were sultry, silken, and rugged, with jazz stabs in all the right places and a penchant for inducing lazy head nods, chemically enhanced or not.

After a three-year break from releasing albums, Evelyn is back in his NOW guise with In a Space Outta Sound, due out March 7 on Warp Records.

Space features songs that jump from reggae to African percussion to Motown to a "Persian snake charmer's harpsichord," according to a Warp press release. Evelyn's influences include Curtis Mayfield, Quincy Jones, Sarah Vaughn, Duke Ellington, James Brown, dancehall, and old school hip-hop, all of which can be heard in ample amounts on the new record, bouncing up against each other comfortably (check out the dub slow-burner "Flip Ya Lid"-- it's pure Sunday afternoon aural bliss).

Featured vocalists on Space include Chyna B, Sara Garvey, and Moses, who has worked with Zero 7 in the past. NOW will head out on the road in 2006 with a handpicked soundsystem, the Irration Steppas. Dates to come.

Still smokin':

01 Passion
02 The Sweetest
03 Flip Ya Lid
04 Pudpots
05 Damn
06 You Wish
07 Deepdown
08 Chime Out
09 Me!
10 I Am You
11 Soul Purpose
12 African Pirates

Nightmares on Wax: http://www.nightmaresonwax.com/
Warp: http://www.warprecords.com