Sofa Surfers - 20 [Monoscope Productions 001]

What a way to celebrate two decades in the biz! Having started out as a crossover project somewhat located in between TripHop / Downtempo and Dub back in 1997 Sofa Surfers are back with a bang in 2k17, proving that they're still on top of the game with their latest album effort that opens with a tune able to humble quite a lot of contemporary Grime / Urban / Bass Music artists within a few bars only - "Warped" featuring Oddatee on vocals who easily cold floors hoards of wannabes and impostors with this one. Following up is "Rising", fusing slightly Balearic sounding guitars with heavy dopeness and loads of Future Soul which even might resonate with fans of Ed Sheeran and the likes of, "See The Light (Rework)" featuring Junior Delgado on the mic amalgamates floaty sub action with (Neo)Cosmic synths, ultra Slow House and massive, heart-felt lyrics, "Feel Good" even seems to enter dancefloor-smashing IndieElectro territories oddly layered with romantic piano lines and the "Elusive Scripts (Rework)" causes trouble as a collaboration with Mutant HipHop pioneers Dälek and Devi which comes out as a danger-indicating dark alley crime scene soundtrack of sorts, killing dancefloors and demanding reloads for sure. Furthermore "Can I Get A Witness (Rework)", another collaboration effort with vocalist Issi Honk, weighs in some proper Easy Listening-infused Bedroom Funk, MC Santana and Rox cater some creepy, yet hypermodernist DeathRap feel on top of the well creepy "Mind-Boggling (Rework)" whereas "Whatever This Is" caters more of a take on Urban Soul with quite a romantic twist and a thing for kitsch, kind of. With "River Blues (Rework)" alongside the vocal talent of Jeb Loy Nichols we see the Sofa Surfers successfully go after a pad heavy, late night vibe and the final cut "Endangered Speeches" takes us to heartfelt, deep cut avenue again. Highly recommended and defo on peak levels!