We bigged up Okain on the very pages only recently, and here is he again with a four track EP on house imprint Gruuv, and one thing is clear he loves hip hop. Up on ‘Down by the Block’ he manages to combine a cut up DMX vocal with a muted saxophone, which may look preposterous on paper but is actually pretty neat – kudos for that off kilter juxtaposition adding a little sass to a solid tech house jam.
‘RZ One’ is a nastier cut, this time adding a vocal all about the drum machine Casio brought out of the same name in 1986. Unsurprisingly it’s a nice analogue sounding raw house cut, high on head nod swagger, and the standout beat on offer in the EP. Rounding things off is ‘By your side’, which is a deep groove notable for it’s use of the same Bobby Caldwell hook from the soul crooner’s track ‘Open your eyes’ Common lifted for his J Dilla produced song ‘The Light’. Love the sample but we’re not massively feeling the track, or the Tuccilo remix of it, but both are well produced and sure to find the right audience elsewhere.
3 out of 5
Reviewed by Autocycle
{http://soundcloud.com/gruuv/okain-down-the-block-original}
