Hello Skinny – Hello Skinny (2012)

Hello Skinny – Hello Skinny (2012)

Genres are a funny thing, aren’t they? On one hand, we categorise all this music we listen to into a whole range of genres and subgenres and styles, etc. that we endlessly argue about and segregate ourselves; yet there are only two categories that really matter: “do like” and “don’t like”. On the other hand, they are actually quite handy for helping us to communicate music to other people.

Somewhere between trip-hop and Jazz (“trip-bop”?) is a marker and that marker says “Hello Skinny”. An unusual combination, no doubt, but one that I am glad exists. Hello Skinny is a band centred around Brit drumemr Tom Skinner, who has worked with so many great names: Mulatu Astatke, Matthew Herbert, Zero 7, Damon Albarn, Soweto Kinch, and many others.

There are some great laid-back trip hop rhythms here; and added to that are some fantastic sax. There is also a bit of a Morricone influence here, especially evident on opening track, Aquarius, and the fantastic Me and My Lady.

Jazz purists will shake their heads and say “this isn’t jazz!, I don’t like it!”, but they are wrong, and this falls perfectly for me into the “do like” category.

Favourite tracks: Aquarius, Knot Blue, Me and My Lady

Bandcamp link: http://helloskinny.bandcamp.com/
Spotify link: Hello Skinny – Hello Skinny