Having thoroughly enjoyed the raging funk of The Bamboos the previous night, there was no better time to sit down and start listening to This is My Home by Lanu.  As leader and guitarist of The Bamboos, I was expecting Lance Ferguson’s debut album to be of a similar raw funk style.  Instead it was refreshing to see that he had relaxed and explored the sounds of jazz, soul, fusion and hip hop. 

After a smooth, lazy intro track with dubbed out vocals we launch into the fast paced synth line of Dis-Information.  Soulful, funky vocals are provided by himself, Karl Wagner and Christin Deralas. 

Being a big fan of Quantic, I was eager to hear Mother Earth.  With a persistent tribal beat and vocals by Aloe Blacc, an artist with releases on Stones Throw Records, this track is another stand out track, and with the lyrics “this is my home, mother earth,” looks to be the source of the album’s title.

Runaway features Ferguson’s band under their alias No Comply as well as vocals from Cherie Mathieson.  While a nice track, it is more of a filler track, sounding much like every other nu-jazz track around.  The same can be said about Rise, with vocals by Abby Joyce being a bit too uplifting for my liking and again just a track you’d expect to find on a run of the mill nu-jazz compilation.

The first track to catch my attention when reading the track list was It’s Time as it features Californian MC, Kero One, who has recently come into the spotlight for his debut Windmills of the Soul.  The rhymes combined with a smooth sax solo and some fleeting guitar licks makes this track my personal favourite.

Unfortunately from here on in the album is a disappointment for me, with a couple of brief interludes, Aow Leuk and Conversations, being the only thing to break up some fairly standard nu-jazz tracks.  Don’t Sleep Pt1 & 2 was pretty groovy though, with some punchy lyrics and synth line making for a fairly sweet track.

Overall, while Lanu’s album has some cool tracks on it, about half the songs are just mediocre jams that you would expect to hear at a trendy café or something.  That said, others might get into the nu-jazz vibe a bit more than myself, and it is definitely worth a listen as it is not all bad.

Rating: 6/10

For comments on this review go to:
http://www.teknoscape.com.au/forums/showthread.php?p=1324812

Tracklist:
1. Conversations (Intro)
2. Dis-Information
3. Mother Earth - (with Aloe Blacc)
4. Runaway - (with Cherie Mathieson/No Comply)
5. Rise - (with Abby Joyce/Simon Grey)
6. It's Time - (with Kero One)
7. Aow Leuk (Interlude)
8. Don't Sleep Pt.s I & II
9. Shine - (with Christian Deralas)
10. Conversations (Interlude)
11. Don't Sleep Pt. 3
12. Let You Glow - (with Christian Deralas)
13. Beachcomber - (bonus track)
14. Beijo Do Sol - (bonus track)

This was a RTRFM Full Frequency album feature.