You really have to be a daring smart ass to give yourself a nom du plume like Hugo Kant. And an intelligent one. Quentin Le Roux of Avignon, via Marseille in France, is both. And he keeps on coming up with some great trip-hop/downbeat albums and ep’s under the combination of last names of a French novelist Victor and German philosopher Immanuel. His latest, third album, Out of Time is no exception. But then it is something to be expected from a multi-instrumentalist/producer who went from a jazz music academy into doing modern music style based on beats.
As with his previous outings under the Hugo Kant moniker three albums, three ep’s), Le Roux shows his mastery of any instrument you can think of, perfect beats and musical sketches from all over the world. No wonder, since he’s been around for a while on the French music scene and has been involved in quite a number of musical projects involving practically any music style you can imagine - from Latin to Ethiopian Electro Jazz. Some of his material, like the introductory song This Old Tune from his first album I don’t want to be an emperor is sure to go down as one of best acid jazz tunes around.
Like with Le Roux’s previous projects, what fascinates is not only the quality of musicianship involved, but an almost perfect balance of great tunes and beats - neither are the tunes just a backdrop for something to dance to, nor are the beats an afterthought to show off your musicianship as ‘great and modern’ (although the closer here, This Is Just Th Beginning has some masterful sax playing). The album covers an expansive musical terrain - from India (The Earth Dance) to Argentina (Black Moon). And the name game seems to be still on (or not?), because of a featured female singer on Clouds, Astrid Engberg, has a voice which uncannily resembles the voice of a famous Brazilian Bossa singer, Astrud Gilberto. Ok, it could be a coincidence, but both the voice and the song sound great.
But so do all the other songs on this album. Maybe this time around Hugo Kant did not come with something like This Old Tune as a singular entity (who can come up with a classic tune every time?), but the whole of Out Of Time as an album in its entirety sure does. Great stuff.
