PRESTO
State of the Art
(Concrete Grooves)
By Ian Ferguson
How well-known can one man be in the underground before breaking through to the big time? West Coast producer Presto, ne Chris Douglas, begs that question on the occasion of his recently released State of the Art . He’s so popular that each of the tracks boasts the lyrical stylings of a different MC: rappers ranging from New York’s CL Smooth, Sadat X, and Large Professor to fellow West Coasters Fatlip, T-Weaponz, and Blue. The disc also includes two appearances by defected Black Eyed Peas vocalist Kim Hill.
Presto’s pastiche of a production shows that he’s versed in jazz, funk, and ’70s soul. On “Pour Another Glass,” a piano groove and stereo-panning funk-horn sample support the utterances of Blu, whose whisky-tipped rhymes slip into a staccato-sung vocal part as smooth as Courvoisier.
State of the Art isn’t always a gentleman drinker – it stumbles at times. “Higher,” one of the most promising tracks on the album with its bright, Motown piano riff, fails when the soulful vocal line is transposed up an interval, then another, and at its third, loses the color and timbre of a human throat and begins to sound like Alvin the Chipmunk. Despite consistently strong beats – if not perfect, they are at least always engaging and compelling – the tracks often finish with less force or fade-outs, a weak weaning that ends a song with no closure.
Presto proves to be a competent producer in the subtle sampling of an old LP’s static; the use of a muted concert hall piano, discordant just ahead of the beat and leading the listener on; and the juggling of a variety of beats, dynamics, tensions, and flows. And he brings out the best in each MC on an album that invariably delivers.