And this is why the monkey loves Tom Caruana. Not content with releasing an original LP this month, he’s just dropped another sterling mash-up LP entitled An Adventure To The Crescent City Through Rhyme & Space.
But first a bit of context involving the pre-history of this joint because you’re damn straight you’ve heard those beats before! Back in 2023 TC released epic three-volume mash-up series Wu-Orleans Vols. 1-3, splicing Wu ‘pellas with beats crafted from the best that Allen Toussaint and The Meters et al had to offer in the 60s and 70s. At the time, TC’s stated intention was always to pick a selection of the best and/or most popular beats and bring press them to vinyl.
Fast forward a year and there isn’t any wax yet but there are three more volumes of – er – mostly same beats plus a handful of new ones. But here’s the thing – instead of Wu acapellas the beats now feature acapellas by pretty much anyone one who was great and good from the eighties to the noughties. Welcome to Vols 1-3 of An Adventure To New Orleans Through Rhyme & Space. Perhaps TC felt he’d rinsed those Wu pellas enough after the Beatles and the Hendrix mash-up LPs and you know what – maybe he was right. Arguably these three volumes sound even doper – and if you haven’t copped them already – fill your boots!
Fast forward another year however and here we are with An Adventure To The Crescent City Through Rhyme & Space (the name changing again in keeping with the constantly evolving nature of this particular project) as sixteen of those New Orleans-based beats finally do find themselves on wax sans Wu and with the emcees from their Adventure To New Orleans… incarnations. Do you like New Orleans funk? Do you like boom-bap hip-hop? Do you like quality emceeing? It’s a ‘hell yeah’ to all three of course! Enjoy the new soundtrack to your summer.
(Out now no Tea Sea Records)