Mark de Clive-Lowe - Tide's Arising

Mark de Clive-Lowe is that kid at the party who's just too damn cool for the room - he's got twice as much style as you and only has to try half as hard. You don't know him, and you don't like him. Then, at a certain point, you look over and realize he's drinking the same beer you are. Suddenly he must not be that bad.

On Tide's Arising, Clive-Lowe's latest full-length, the musician/producer flexes that impressive sense of style, and the result is 45 minutes worth of futuristic, digital bump 'n' funk that plays like the soundtrack to the best make-out session you've never had. A swirling mix of hip hop, house, and jazz, the record is a welcome update to the smoky sophistication of Rat Pack-era movie music, filtered through the throaty organs of seventies funk, all wrapped up in the electronics of the now. It's intergalactic soul that's supposedly nu-jazz, but in the end refuses to be categorized so easily. "Quintessential" sounds like a late-night D'Angelo singing over a slowed-down Zapp. "Slide" is a fresh, whispered disco jam; in the background a computer beeps and blips, shivering and shaking in digital delight.

That the whole affair feels breezily professional is a testament to Clive-Lowe. The half-Japanese/half-New Zealander wrote and arranged all of the songs on the LP, enlisting a host of accomplished musicians and vocalists to bring them to life. He also plays on every track. It's a tight but unrestrained effort and when the songs finally let loose, as at the end of "State of the Mental," you're ready and willing to let them go off.

On the cover of Tide's Arising is a picture of an impossibly stretched-out keyboard looking out onto the stars. The point is clear: all Clive-Lowe wants to do is preside over an interstellar chill-out. And, while at times the album nearly slips into the realm of over-simplistic positivist philosophy that can derail an artist (You want to say, "Dude, 'State of the Mental?' No duh it's all about thinking"), it ultimately stays thoughtful and sexy like that kid who knows how cool he is, but you want him at your party anyway. Somewhere in space, Toejam and Earl are cruising, smiling.