AMP FIDDLER WITH SLY & ROBBIE
Inspiration Information
(Strut)
By Todd Lavoie
It’s a meet-up that, admittedly, came as a bit of a surprise, but ultimately makes a world of sense: Detroit retro-futurist funkmeister Joseph “Amp” Fiddler has joined forces with collaboration-loving riddim-machine Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare (better known as Sly and Robbie) for an album’s worth of smooth, spaced-out soul and gravy-thick reggae rhythms.
Bestowed with the quite-appropriate moniker Inspiration Information – the title surely a nod to the great fellow traveler of righteous grooves, Shuggie Otis, whose 1974 album of the same name has seen its influence extended further with every passing year – the disc is the first in what is slated to be a series of releases from the consummate tastemakers at Strut Records built around an intriguing concept.
The idea? Take a few musicians who have never worked together before, stick them in the studio on a tight schedule, and see what happens – it’s a strategy that yielded fascinating results for the Dutch label Konkurrent, whose “In The Fishtank” series drummed up tasty pairings from Tortoise/the Ex and Low/Dirty Three, for example. I’m dead curious to hear what Strut comes up with next – how about a Tussle/ESG tête-à-tête, folks? – but for now, I’m more than content to float and bob along with the rumbling, churning head-music of this first installment.