Happy Hour In The Gene Pool, the debut CD from the group Evolve, incorporates the best of electronica with just a touch of jazz. Vocals provided by musical theater and jazz singer, Margo Reymundo, enhance lush production and arrangements from her partner in crime, songwriter/ musician Red Broad. The two are backed ably by several of their hippest friends, including Tantrum, Freddy Kron, and Cassandra Rachel.
This collaborative effort works itself out over cool grooves and wondrous beats; songs that would be right at home on a typical So What?! Night with DJ’s K-Nee and Style-N-Fashion.
The track “By Definition: Cool” says it all: a simple rap intro laced by warm drums that are then marinated by a jazzy trumpet solo throughout. “Mice On The Ice” takes a decidedly different turn, offering up knowledge-filled rhymes over a musical tapestry that has a strong bassline reminiscent of Rakim’s “Follow The Leader.”
Meanwhile, Reymundo’s organic vocals bring class and pizzazz to the tracks “Where Were You (Sunday Afternoon)” and “Couldn’t Be More Wrong.” There is also a hint of her otherworldly voice that plays out on “Well I Gotta Story,” where her accent rises through.
This is music for the fan of the poetry slam. Those grown and sexy folks who like their soundscapes culled from the pages of Digable Planets and the Herbaliser series, mixed with a smidge of Morcheeba. Their’s is a futuristic landscape that offers more optimism than Blade Runner. It’s time to evolve.
