Tommy Guerrero
From the Soil to the Soul 
Quannum Records

Tommy Guerrero spent the better part of his youth riding a skateboard as a member of the much-vaunted Bones Brigade (where Tony Hawk got his start), but a little known fact about him during those years was that he was a musician as well. Sure, he played in the hilarious punk band, Free Beer, but it still seemed to come out of nowhere a few years back when he came out with his first album of instrumental funk and soul.

After a few releases on the venerable Mo’ Wax label, Guerrero has switched to the Bay Area-based Quannum records (home to Blackalicious and Latyrx, amongst many others) but, despite that affiliation, is not attempting to reinvent himself as a hip-hop superstar. Instead, he graces our ears and our hips with another batch of deep in the pocket grooves that are as artful as they are fanciful.

One of Guerrero’s strong suits (as was quite apparent on his last album, Soul Food Taqueria) is his ability to arrange his songs. For each track, he lays on top of his cracking grooves, just the right amount of guitar, keyboard and added percussion (such as the little smears of wah-wah and delay pedals that he brings in to “1966″ and the string section stabs that add a sinister, Isaac Hayes-like feel to “Badder Than Bullets”).

Many of the songs are also exercises in restraint. In the hands of another musician, this record could have easily turned into a ridiculous jazz fusion record with overwrought solos and made the track times twice as long as necessary. Instead, Guerrero knows just when to give and take away the instrumentation so no one sound is overpowering the song but each one has its say all the same. It’s a tightrope walk to make music like this, but Guerrero stays balanced throughout.

MP3
Salve

Links
http://www.tommyguerrero.com/
http://www.quannum.com