T.J. REHMI
The Warm Chill (Dharma Moon)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson

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As a master of Indian-influenced electronica, guitarist T.J. Rehmi seems to take seriously the task of bringing diversity and new sounds to his albums. There are a lot of people doing this kind of downtempo stuff and many of them sound alike, but once you know Rehmi's work, you can pick him out fast. There's nothing pseudo about his classical Indian melodies, and the river of drums & bass, synth pulses and unexpected sounds that he brews to underpin those melodies blend perfectly to make the whole thing mesmerizing. This time out he brings us some more finely crafted drum & bass, usually peppered with his sometimes funky, sometimes jazzy, sometimes eastern-influenced soloing, and he takes some of the tunes in a dub direction (with dropouts that don't just drop, they implode into the echo), but he also brings things down to enough of a hush and adds enough atmosphere to earn the albums title, The Warm Chill. Chillout fans will probably love the whole thing, and if the D&B people can't handle the gentler moments, that's their loss. At any volume, The Warm Chill is so richly textured you'll feel like you can swim in the sound. Just one of the many marks of this master.

© 2004 - DJ Johnson