Los Angeles’s Saru returns to his stomping grounds with the 2nd digital EP on the New York City based Bastard Jazz label. Moving into a deep progression of the original deep and darker downtempo sound that garnered Saru such critical praise and attention for his album Downtempo Dojo (Shadow Records, 2001) and his subsequent releases on the “Out Of The Shadows EP” and on “The Dubbled Up EP”, both on Bastard Jazz under the moniker of Spooky Monkey – “The Trap” kicks things off with a hypnotic stand-up bassline, a trickling of piano, and a tough-as-nails midtempo drum break, while “Distant Recollection” retains an instrumental hip-hop vibe and couples it with well formed soundscapes and a deep dubby bassline, managing to stay hard-bitten and pastoral simultaneously. ” Velvet Hammer” takes a bit of a Baleric swing to the Asia with synth washes and bleeps, subdued drums, and delayed out percussion. Finally, the Chicago based duo of Peabody and Sherman work their magic and flip “The Trap” into an esoteric, near ambient futuristic workout in transit!
