THRUST

"Nerdy funky sh*t!" That's what the wife calls this and boy do I agree. This album is a mind-blowing adventure into high-tech funk music, with layers of melodies, rhythms and riffs spinning intricate patterns around each other to form one orgy of sound. It baffles with its rhythmical technicality but it's at the same time irresistibly catchy. The result is magnificent. This is as good as funk can get.

Just as on the preceding Head Hunters, the album kicks of with an infectious funk track with impossible dense poly-rhythms that keep you constantly on edge, as they never settle for that easily flowing rhythm you are kept craving for. Actual Proof is possible even more complex and a true drum and bass marvel, even if somewhat showy. With Butterfly we get a superb atmospheric resting point before Spank-A-Lee ends the funk-feast of this album.

The musicality of the band has grown considerably since Head Hunters and this time the emphasis on rhythm finds a better balance with the musical ideas and melodies. Everything gets an equal share of attention and the album benefits as a whole, with none of the tracks disappointing or overstaying their welcome.

With its high level of sophistication Thrust is truly nerdy funky sh*t, in the most positive sense imaginable. The emphasis on rhythm might not please prog audiences as much as the Romantic Warriors of this earth and it might also be less alluring to jazz fans when comparing it to Hancock's own Sextant or Crossings. But I find it almost as deserving as those two albums.