Van Hunt - On The Jungle Floor PDF Print E-mail
Written by Ifè Oshun   

hip-hop reviews When listening to Van Hunt's latest release, one is struck by all the comparisons. Quick analogies include the obvious influences of classic artists such as Curtis Mayfield, Sly Stone, as well as Lenny Kravitz and, most obviously, early Prince.

One is also struck by the undeniable talent of this genre-defying artist who effortlessly writes, arranges, performs and co-produces the majority of songs on this sixteen track set.

 

 

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But while funky-edged rock tracks "Ride, Ride, Ride" co-exist with chilled-out R&B "Being A Girl," psychedelically funkdified "At The End Of A Slow Dance" and soulful opus "Mean Sleep" featuring vocal powerhouse Nikka Costa, the direction, indeed if there is one, gets lost among all the strikingly good music. It's almost as if there's too much genius, and the challenge is not displaying it, but distilling it to fit onto one measly album. As a result, strong stand-alone tracks are few outside of the heady, catchy, densely layered funk of "Character" which provides a tantalizing glimpse into what happens when Hunt-complex mates with hunt-simple, and easily his most convincing vocal on the entire album.

Hunt obviously puts his heart and considerable soul into every note, chord and lyric, but there's so much it's almost murky. It's not difficult to see him, five years from now, with stacks of unreleased material in his creative vaults, constantly crafting what will no doubt one day be an immense and diverse body of work. He is obviously a musical talent to be reckoned, and the great thing about On The Jungle Floor is the sheer promise of many, many more albums to come.

Like Prince, Hunt is obviously on his own powerful path of constructing a unique sound on his own artistic terms. And any artist that sticks to his creative guns in this era of sell out wanna-sound-like-everybody-else acts deserves all the props they can get.

Download:  "Character" "Mean Sleep" "At The End Of A Slow Dance" "Ride, Ride, Ride" "Being A Girl"

 

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  To purchase CDs, click on the cover art or title link. To legally download, click on the iTunes logo. If you do not have iTunes, you can download it here by clicking the "download iTunes" logo above. 

 

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