Released

Detroit’s Kyle Hall and London’s Steven Julien last teamed up ten years ago, dropping gnarled electro bombs as FunkinEvil (a play on Julien’s handle FunkinEven) and then carried on with their own solo careers and labels. Crown marks a welcome return, the two older, mellower but just as heavily indebted to funk. Which is fitting, since both hail from cities with deep roots in the stuff. “Page 2” and “Page 3” offset tough, skittering drum programming with synth lines bright and glossy enough to require shades. When the wordless vocals and honeyed sax enter on the mellow “Page 5,” it suggests the purgatory where funk and smooth jazz mingle. And when LA’s DāM-FunK adds knee-deep squelches and gelatinous low-end to his skate rink-friendly remix of “Page 3,” it drops a holy trinity of funk upside your head.

Andy Beta

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