EL JEFE
Amorphous Phormula (Zip)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson

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El Jefe is that rare unit in the hip-hop world requiring the label "band" instead of "crew," because while there are turntables and samples and an MC involved, there's also a bass player, a guitarist, a drummer and a trumpet player, versatile players all. Their music is cerebral, down-tempo, cross-over hip-hop that brings in elements from several points of the musical compass including R&B, dub and jazz. The voices never overwhelm the music and vice-versa, and everything is enhanced by a stream of sounds that fades in and out to create a strange ambience that gives you the feeling of traveling through the darkness on El Jefe's streets. Just such a theme is spelled out in the recurring setup tracks, "Nightmare on Cesar Chavez Road," which appears three times with three different tags: "The City," "The Club" and "The Nightmare." The Bay area (by way of Santa Barbara) group succeeds on every level with Amorphous Phormula, their official debut (though I'm pretty sure I've seen another CD floating around out there). They weave their messages effortlessly in very accessible poetry, deep but not so esoteric that it'll lose half the audience right away. If it sounds too good to be true, go to their website and check out some sound clips and make your own call. As for me, I can't get enough of this album.

© 2004 - DJ Johnson