- Barely out of their teens, the East Coast production duo of Baba Ali and Jules Born are already forging quite a hefty canon of work. Her Flower sees the complex, moody house that inhabited last year's Plastic Dolls album take a back seat to proper songs, with vocals, wrapped in squelching funk, electronic soul and Latin grooves. There's no running on the spot here. Lead track, "Her Flower," invokes the spirit of hip-house (don't run away—it's really rather intoxicating), slung around skipping electro snares and swollen synth washes, while "Times've Changed" slaps down a filthy Cameo synth bassline and then has Jules and VoB's French vocal compadre, Rap Lisa, exchange words breathily across it.
The creeping digifunk "Modify Love" is the closest thing to filler here, seguing into the late afternoon Cali cruise of "Une Semaine Avec Lui," with its crunched-up head-nodding beats and glowing Moodyman-style pads. "Dry Ur Eyez" will satisfy those looking for some more traditional dance floor schmutter, albeit presented in the form of hip hop-paced, richly-fruited, velvety deep house. Greg Paulus, who provides the wobbly trumpet part on the original, then takes "Dry Ur Eyez" off into laidback Latin house territory, washed in the bubbling percussion that seeps up through the floorboards.
Tracklist A1 Her Flower
A2 Times've Changed
B1 Modify Love
B2 Une Seaine Avec Lui
Digital: Dry Ur Eyez feat. Greg Paulus
Digital: Dry Ur Eyez feat. Greg Paulus Cover For Ma Mansss!