The Apple Juice Kid - Plus+ (Upshot Records)

Some albums hook you and you know exactly why. You know what it is about that beat that makes you wiggle, or just how that vocal lilt makes your hair stand up. But sometimes an album gives you an obsession you can't dissect, and this is one. I can explain why all the elements are so good, but exactly how they come together and why it's so effective is still a mystery to me, and that might be part of the fascination.

Stephen Levitin, aka The Apple Juice Kid--who got his name as a kid when he won first place at a drumming competition sponsored by an apple juice company-- makes his bread and butter as a hugely respected jazz drummer in North Carolina's culturally fecund Research Triangle. But he's a young cat, and fills his head full of all the hot beats, fine songwriting, and rich instrumentation floating around in the atmosphere. This guy is a cold drink on a hot day with all these influences in the air condensing around him. How do you put saxophones, dub, and Super Cat and Beenie Man samples, next to borderline indie rock, next to oozy, sexy, post-kitch french vocal trip hop, and not make it sound thrown together like a ham sandwich?

Plus+ excels at bizarre, copacetic mixtures like this. The foundation is solid, creative songwriting that brings the pieces through changes and breakdowns that feel natural and so good. Kind of that spend-two-hours-on-makeup-for-a-natural-look phenomenon. Next layer is chunky, complicated sample heaven and scratching courtesy of a stable of local beat junkies. Topping it off is a collection of fine musicians and vocalists to round out the musicality of the project. The thought, diversity, vibrance, and personality on this album elevates it way beyond yet another pleasant but flat collection of look-what-I-made-in-my-room-with-Reason grooves that somehow feel unfinished, to a real, old-fashioned record album with a beginning, middle and end.

The album opens with the ultra molasses-slow uberdub dirge "Love", laced with warm keys and almost Morphine-style rich, low sax, plus turntablism and suprising samples overtop. Next up is the intense but unrushed "Got To Be", mixing indie sensitibility with ingenius Eastern-influenced string arrangements that recall late Beatles. "I Can't See" follows this line of logic with live drum and bass drumming and the sweetest slackjaw vocals conjurring a bit of Radiohead's Tom Yorke. In the middle we are treated to a big buildup that sounds like it's going to explode into a huge breakbeat cheesefest, but shouldn't, and then, suprise, doesn't!, then swings back into a sweet-bitter-sweet straining reprise. So satisfying.

A real knockout for me is "The Window" featuring Shirlette Ammons on bass and vocals. She kicks a handsome storytelling flow that's clever, smooth, plaintive and poetic. Love it. Further down, vocalist Omotade spits knowledge in a more straightforward hip hop fashion on "Listen".

"Kumasi" and "Brand New" show off the turntablism of dj J Yu, while "Paint a Smile" plays with samples like Legos. "Je Suis Un Chat Noir" is that yummy, drippy trip hop I warned you about. The work rounds out with two more sound collages in "Soul" and "Savoir" for a work that is as chopped up as it is musical, boding well for this brilliant young buck from tobacco country. Watch out!

Click here for The Apple Juice Kid website, including sound samples.