REVIEW: Gilles Peterson's Brownswood Bubblers 5

by Titi Carie

Between his highly-rated weekly Radio 1 show on BBC and Brownswood Recordings (the indie label he began in 2006), London DJ Gilles Peterson made time for the masses and gave us this: Brownswood Bubblers 5.

The tracks he chose for the compilation ranged from smooth blues to electric grooves. The DJ is heavily inspired by jazz, and that's evident throughout a lot of his work. I can tolerate 'trip hop' in small doses. It's not my first choice when listening to new music, but its been popular in London since the mid 90's. After giving Brownswood Bubblers 5 a chance, I loved all but 2 or 3 tracks on there.

"Nxt Msg (Deletion Mix)" sounds sexy, before Suzi Analogue even opens her mouth. Her voice is what this track needs. As she goes in, so does the beat. It's slow, it's fast, it's slow again...sexy. "Calypso Blues", while a great song, seemed somewhat out of place on this compilation (I'd be curious to hear an all reggae/calypso/caribbean themed album?). "Rising Up (Slow Mix)" by the London duo Samuel and the Dragon is beautifully tragic - it made me slightly nostalgic for good 80's movie soundtracks.

My favorite track on the album by far is "Lil Girl" by Shafiq Husayn ft. Fatima. Hearing Shafiq on the compilation made me want more, so I googled the artist and found this: http://vimeo.com/7912404 *

Brownswood Bubblers 5 is definitely a feel good album. Although I'd skip a few tracks, it's an album I'd recommend music lovers give a go. If not for this compilation, there are a few musicians I probably never would have heard of. If you can be open-minded to music you don't know much about, you might be surprised by what moves your feet and speaks to your soul.