EKITI SON, Sacred Science (Office Ekiti)



Menu: trip-hop, hip-hop, experimental, downtempo, lounge

Tastes like: Massive Attack, DJ Shadow, Portishead, RZA and Cling

Ingredients: UK producer Ekiti Son (not the image you see for the LP cover art) is one bad watchyourmouth! He follows up his Nepotism EP with a brilliant full-length, featuring a host of guest vocalists, mostly female ones from the European experimental/underground circuit. On “Charmed” featuring Nina is Nimbus, “Ground Level” featuring Ellie Lawson, or Scarlet Monk singing over the groove of “Kisses”, the pounding trip-hop beats contrast beautifully with the pillow-soft vocals by these bar-hopping, edgy hipster singers. My favorite, and ultimate though, probably the most moody cut features singer Valeska and is called “Smile”. Starting off with a distant-sounding, haunting hum of keyboards as some faint dining atmosphere of glasses toasting could be heard in the background, Scarlet’s almost whispering, jazzy vocals commence, but it’s when that perfect beat hits your dome with an elevation in the keyboard chords raising the bar, you’ll have to label Ekiti Son as POTENTIALLY-correct.