Dave Aju takes two life-changing situations – the end of a relationship and moving house – and harnesses them to extremely good effect in ‘Black Frames’. While this is essentially a techno record it is fully flavoured with hip hop and soul, while Aju adds some pertinent vocals when necessary from Qzen and Tyrel Williams, who adds the essential ‘get our shit together’ line on ‘Nobody Knows’. The two best tracks – arguably – are the loping groove of ‘Nu Threads’, which supports an offbeat jam, and ‘Clean St’, which adds some sharply dressed funk to proceedings in what sounds like the best Detroit tradition. In truth, though, each of the nine tracks is to be heard, for Aju has clearly spent time getting his own shit together. It pays off handsomely here.
5 out of 5
Reviewed By Ben Hogwood
{http://soundcloud.com/circus-3/sets/dave-aju-black-frames-snippets}
