- From roller rink funk to scratch-happy hip-hop, the Detroit artist's latest marks 20 years of albums on Mahogani Music.
- It's hard to think of a producer more Detroit than Humberto Hernandez. I know that's a sweeping statement—but who else was the DJ for J Dilla's Slum Village and worked alongside Moodymann at Buy-Rite? Even with that CV, Hernandez keeps a fairly low profile. He only tours intermittently and does press even more sparsely. Humble and low-key as he may be, his discography speaks volumes. You can chart this via his ongoing self-titled series of albums released through Moodymann's Mahogani Music label as Andrés.
Hernandez's LPs under this alias differ from his hip-hop work as DJ Dez or the roughed-up house of A Drummer From Detroit. As Andrés, he makes masterful collages that capture Detroit's Black music history, from the club to the roller rink, from Motown to Latin-inflected boogie. They're tributes to the city's soulful side from a producer who can likely cite obscure production credits in his sleep. Beyond the Discogs algorithm-breaking smash hit "New For U," his run of 12-inches as Andrés starting in 2012 contains some of the deepest, most soulful house ever made. To mark 20 years on Mahagoni, Hernandez turns in Andrés V, an intricate record that bounces between high-definition melodies and crunchy low-end funk.
These tracks work in the club, but some feel like proper songs, too. Both "Autumn Getaway" and "Listen to the Sound" are melancholy edits of alternate universe disco classics. On the latter, the chords are deflated and morose while the vocal sample can hardly contain its heartbreak. "Autumn Getaway" is weirder but no less infectious. The drums under the minor key melody and MPC-chopped vocals are on the verge of slipping out of time, like someone accidentally hitting the 33 button on a 45.
Alongside these disco touches, the album really shines when he brings in the hip-hop influence usually reserved for his DJ Dez project. A syncopated 808 punches through the woodwinds on "Cybermate," like smoke wafting lazily from a neighbour's BBQ in the summer breeze. The best tracks are the short sketches that fuse Hernandez's background in Dilla-style sampling with Low End Theory-style beat science. "Detoxfromtheworld" has scuzzy hints of the old Los Angeles beat scene, while "Jungle Stroll" is straight-up scratch magic.
Even though he's mining the past, the crystalline melodies give Andrés V a distinctly futuristic touch. On "Jungle Stroll," he adds a strange squiggly bassline that could've been lifted from a post-dubstep record. And Hernandez goes straight for the jugular on the roller rink tune "Funky 2Step," a chuggy, sleazy funk track with a James Brown sample and echoing synths that ping in and out like contemporary techno.
Clocking in well under an hour, Andrés V's eight tracks breeze by (only "Praise" passes the four-minute mark, with a couple tunes coming in under two). And while we're a ways away from the 33-track Andrés II, the brevity only makes the record stronger. 20 years of releases as Andrés is no small flex. And to do it with such casual expertise shows that two decades in, Hernandez is still at the peak of his creative prowess.
Tracklist01. Praises
02. Cybermate
03. Listen To The Sound
04. Autumn Getaway
05. Funky 2Step
06. Detoxfromtheworld
07. I Need It
08. Jungle Stroll