Nov 21, 2010

RAMP: "Come Into Knowledge"

Holy shit is all I can say.  I don’t know what to tell you about this album that hasn’t already been re-hashed and overcooked by the neo-funk heads a thousand times over.  This is the underground spiritual jazz-funk record to end all underground spiritual jazz-funk records, produced by none other than Roy Ayers himself, and featuring an oft-sampled version of his “Everybody Loves The Sunshine” that rivals the original for its profoundly chilled-out vibe.  While the Ayers influence is obviously the dominating theme and force here, these cats still manage to express their individuality as a band very clearly, focusing on a strange lyrical sensibility over floating, diamond-cut funk grooves that drift into one another like ships in the night, overlapping and then altering course.  I stumbled upon this LP on our last day in Oahu, in a hot, third-floor shop in Honolulu, totally unable to comprehend that I was holding this beat fanatic classic in my hands, much less paying for it to take home as my own.  Quite the send-off really, and a totally unexpected find.  Wild.

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