No Categories: A Ubiquity Compilation (URCD032 40:54, 54:08), draws heavily on the drum-n-bass side of the abstract funk galaxy. Which makes the forays into other areas even more enjoyable. Both discs feature modern dance oriented turns from Slide Five, DJ’s Wally and Swingsett and Skyjuice, among others. But The Automator Featuring Kool Keith’s “A Better World,” and the Bugs and Joefinite the I.S.’s “Midnight Session” steals the show from the rest of the sequenced-beat stuff here. The live-funk-oriented offerings are the real highlights, though: Trumpeter Longineu Parsons, a former member of Sun Ra’s Arkestra, weighs in with the deadly Afrocentric groover “Funkin’ Around” (which features a nice recorder solo). And Scruff’s two remixes of Bobby Matos’ version of “The Creator has a Master Plan” are afternoon-chillout-friendly cuts.
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