- Detroit-flavored house and other jittery rhythms from the unstoppable Bronx artist.
- After following his progression for a few years, I get the vibe that Kush Jones fundamentally understands dance music better than most people. There's an undeniable sense of groove, propulsion and funk to everything he does, in any genre. You hear a Kush Jones track and you want move something, whether you're tapping your feet, doing air drums or going off on a sweaty dance floor. He balances melody and busy rhythm sections without ever leaning too hard in one direction, and he can go from some of the smoothest footwork you've ever heard to sumptuous house music that would make the most grizzled old head ask for a track ID. Jones just gets it, a feeling only underlined by 6 Days, an effortlessly elegant house EP that Jones apparently made in just under a week.
If I had to describe 6 Days in a few words, I'd say that Jones was having his Kyle Hall moment. These tracks put the Bronx producer's jittery spin on the Detroit house tradition, made from clever drum patterns and decorated with bursts of chintzy synth horn and pitch-bent keys. "Big Stepper" is an exemplary tune with its icy, sustained strings—think Rick Wade—and a quirky shuffle that betrays Kush Jones' perpetually itchy feet. (The excitable "Supah Jack Jack," meanwhile, sounds like it had one too many cups of coffee but is having fun with the rush.) "Bx Bounce" is another winner, opening the EP like a welcoming hug, all wiggly synth lines and an incredible bassline that burrows into the room like a deep tissue massage.
Even in a chill track such as "Bx Bounce," though, there's more than meets the ear, Jones' percussive arrangements work bounce and swing into the most laid-back of patterns. It's in how the jazzy "Sliding Scales" feels both speedy and tranquil at the same time, or how the delightfully wonky "Clave Clapper," whose sparse groove—with liberal use of the 808's iconic clave, of course—sounds as if it was improvised on the spot. However it was made, this is the kind of dance music that makes you imagine dextrous fingers at work, not just clicks and keystrokes.
Tracklist01. BX Bounce
02. Sliding Scale
03. Big Stepper
04. Clave Clapper
05. Supah Jack Jack
06. Dream Of Groove