MTV & Tru Throughts Presents Mono CD - Import

Robert Luis and Quantic selected and mixed the groovy and funky songs on this two-CD soundtrack for MTV MONO, a European extreme sports TV program.

Taken from the music played on a European-oriented extreme sports series on MTV (whose soundtrack was created by Quantic), Mono: When Shapes Join Together Mix, originally released in 2003 in Britain, features tracks from the Tru Thoughts (Quantic's label, and also the releaser of the separate When Shapes Join Together trilogy) catalog (though some are very recently signed artists), and considering it's one of the more interesting ones in the European jazzbreakshiphopsoulfunkbeatsounds (as they call themselves) market, it makes for a pretty good collection. Quantic, of course, is featured heavily here, with four tracks that make the list, plus a song from his indie-dance duo the Limp Twins and a short interlude from his funk-based Quantic Soul Orchestra, though his direct contributions, while good, are surprisingly not the standouts on Mono. Bonobo's "Dinosaurs" has a nice slow groove, and the sparse, bluesy guitar riffing behind the rapping in Phi Life Cypher's "Cypher Funk" is fun and summery. The first disc, which contains downtempo and chilled-out songs, and the second one, which features more hip-hop and breakbeat, work well as a set, complementing each other nicely, picking up where the other leaves off. If Mono: When Shapes Join Together Mix is any sign of what the rest of the Shapes series will hold, the U.S. should hope that it doesn't take another three years for the albums to hit there, because it would definitely be missing out. ~ Marisa Brown

MTV MONO is a series of exclusive programmes aimed specifically at Europe’s prolific extreme sports scene. Sixteen individual programmes detail some of the world’s most daredevil extreme sports moments. The programmes are visually spectacular and cover all the most impressive and diverse extreme sports. The programmes are soundtracked by Quantic and alongside the heavy drums of the title music, which he penned especially for the series, he has delved into the back catalogues of Tru Thoughts, and it sub-labels, including exclusives and unreleased tunes, to create a variety of styles that compliment the range of sports. MTV and Tru Thoughts have joined together to release a double CD album called MONO to reflect the music and style of the programmes. This choice selection is compiled and mixed by Robert Luis and Quantic, with a horizontal CD for the downtempo, mellow, chilled tracks and a vertical CD for the hip hop, soul, funk and breakbeats.

Personnel: Nicolas Giraud (trumpet); Richard Gibbs (drums); Chris Stromquist (congas).