Brady Watt - Lifetronics review

Brady Watt's a hip hop session musician, and in demand bass player, whose stepping into the light with a strong release his debut Lifetronics LP.Watt's made a livelihood backing live Joey Bada$$, Ski Beatz, Statik Selektah and he's just joined DJ Premier's all-star band. Lifetronics is grounded by his understanding of the lagging beats of neo-soul and the rigeurs of hip hop which makes each of his compositions a unique springboard for the MC or sung verses from artists as varied as Talib Kweli to Melanie Fiona.

Across the board the album has a fresh, eccentric quality that is matched by the guests that compliment the beats rather than overshadow them.

Some tracks like Minds of the Future (feat. Smoke DZA) sound like they could be an outtake from Blakroc the Black Keys one-off album of hip hop collaborations.  As much as Watt's is primarily a bass player the album's most memorable hooks are slinky guitar leads a couple of which bear the deep imprint of D'Angelo. Smoke Break is an obvious homage for instance - a short vamp that's just a few chords shy of the much longer tune The Root from D'Angelo's singular Voodoo album.  Watt's is joined by a slew of strong but little known MC's that bring the organic bounce of his beats to life.  It's not surprisingly on the instrumentals that Watt is strongest such as 80 Full-Color Plates (feat. Dave Gagliardi and Gary Busey).