Another Late Night is a series of varying compilations. A collective project which mixes the popular and not so popular, global and local music, into a sort of multi flavoured fruit drink which never leaves a bad taste in your mouth. This is a review of Another Late Night by Rae & Christian, a compilation with a slightly more South American feel than your usual cup of tea.

Rae & Christian – Trendsetter – 1.01 minutes
Opening with a 1 minute brass number, with sultry and epic trumpeting. A simple and short piece which starts slow but builds and speeds up, and then returns to it’s original pace. A nice gentle start then.

The Boulevard Connection – Copenhagen Claimin’ Respect – 1.40 minutes
A hip hop & rap track, mixing some clever beats with brass instruments (perhaps a running theme?). Scratching & vocals are great throughout. Perhaps not the level of aggression you may expect, but this is after all Another Late Night, and the focus is on chilling out. The use of brass instruments is not new, but it works very well here.

Josuha – Come On – 3.03 minutes
A slightly more Latin flavour this time, fading out the rapping and hip hop of the previous track, and focusing more on relaxing with a gorgeous soulful intro, which is used sparingly throughout. It’s a delicious track, using sounds which are more akin to 80s synth pop, but work wonderfully here. I love the upbeat, yet reserved feeling of this track. It’s contradictory and shouldn’t work, yet is accomplished.

Riton – Put That On My Mama – 4.13 minutes
Hip Hop beats again, with a more ambient flavour. A piano sample repeats in the background, and the first minute or so is just a mixture of beats and piano. Abstract but interestingly cohesive. A simple track, with not much going on, and in some ways reminiscent of DJ Shadows Midnight, if only because of the piano, but with none of the drama. Enjoyable, but nothing special.

Overall, even with the rather poor final track, the entire compilation is pretty excellent throughout

Dubble D – Introlude – 1.09 minutes
More chillout, and more simple relaxation. A drifting, sleepy track.

Nash – 100 Million Ways – 3.19 minutes
Things pick up with 100 Million Ways and my favourite track featuring the now extinct Hip Hop combo of the Pharcyde. It’s a brilliant, upbeat and ironic track; lyrically amusing and tongue-in-cheek mixing the earlier Latin flavour with more recognisable hip hop. Excellent stuff, even if short at 3.19 minutes

Fumi – Straight No Filter (Only Child Remix – 5.21 minutes
Sounding pretty familiar, Fumi is an interesting track, verging on dance but not quite getting there. The seventies sounds akin to Starsky & Hutch, hippy organs and trippy vocal samples are well put together, making for easy listening. You could, I suppose, dance to it, but it’s not quite there. The latter half of the track introduces, what sound like, a distorted saxophone, with rapping, a South American taste, and cool jazz.

Zum – Take Ya Time – 5.04 minutes
My favourite, or second favourite, track in the compilation. Stunning, sampled vocals, brilliant beats, and excellent mixing. This is the brassiest track on the compilation; think Tina Turner brass numbers and you sort of get a feeling for it. I think I’m in love with the vocalist, who could be 400 years old and have only one eye, but damn her voice is tasty.

Capoeira Twins Four (4X3) (Mr Scruff Remix) – 3.11 minutes
Kick arse track from Mr Scruff, as ever mixing and scratching with the best of them. Repetitious but likeable track, with the vocals being limited to “Everybody spread the word”. Simple, understated, but very cool.

The penultimate track has a gorgeous guitar strumming sample, with cool beats, windpipe instruments (sounding a bit like Tales of the Unexpected or some hippy commune stuff)

Bushy vs Sonic Boo – I Pink I’m Going Squezy – 1.30 minutes
Sexy and very late 70s early 80s, and the sample is a bit of a giveaway as to its influence. Almost makes you feel you’re in a disco again. Night Fever anyone?

Pablo – Roll Call – 3.45 minutes
From the name alone, you should be able to surmise it’s a very lain beat to this number. Brass instruments, lain backing vocals loud booming sounds and a chaos of instruments; wouldn’t be out of place at a salsa class or a bar in South America. One to dance away to.

H2O – Got To Be Me (Timezone Dub) – 5.13 minutes
Sounding like a classic and given them a facelift, the guitars sound like the Doobie Brothers, with some great female vocals – a loud, powerful and delicious voice – there are interludes of disco in the track which work excellently, rather than sounding out of place or strange. When the music picks and the guitars are allowed to blossom together with the vocals, the track is wonderful. More of this would have perhaps made the tack better, but as it is it’s good rather than great. It sounds a touch pretentious at times with the constant retro synth.

Aromadozeski Therapy – Sturdel Strut – 3.20 minutes
Ironically the track with the loudest bass, yet sounds like it’s a load of sample from a cocktail bar in Cuba, mixed with a telephone ringing and crowd chant. A touch of brass and calypso like drums and you have what shouldn’t sound like a great piece of music, but somehow manages to create just that. The type of music that will make your body want to move. It does end up a bit James Bond vs Baron Samedi towards the final minute, but it’s a very fun track.

Abstract but interestingly cohesive. A simple track, with not much going on, and in some ways reminiscent of DJ Shadows Midnight

Faze Action – Samba (Rae & Christian Remix) – 6.02 minutes
The penultimate track has a gorgeous guitar strumming sample, with cool beats, windpipe instruments (sounding a bit like Tales of the Unexpected or some hippy commune stuff) and brass instruments once more. We get a little samba (as the title states, and the trumpets are wonderfully entertaining. Around the half way mark, it takes breather and then gradually brings everything back in again for the last two and half minutes, for a final ensemble for the final track on the album. Great stuff.

Rae & Christian – Flashlight – 3.57 minutes
The weakest track on the compilation is also the final track. For a computer nerd like me and 80s fan, it’s pretty good; however, forever everyone else, this will be pretty disappointing. Sounding like a cross between a midi tune and Axel F’s Beverly Hills Cop tune, it’s perhaps the most retro track on the album. What starts out pretty good, probably has to be seen as having a rather limp ending to it.

Overall, even with the rather poor final track, the entire compilation is pretty excellent throughout. If you love your funk & hip music, if you just need something with a touch of lain and heck, even 80s thrown in for good measure, then Rae & Christian’s Another Late Night is the compilation to go for. It’s one of the best Another Late Night collections by far. A very fascinating project and great to hear something a bit more experimental, and bit different from the usual fare.

Verdict: A beautiful, hip, funky and eccentric release of an Another Late Night. Fantastic stuff, and time to get your groove on baby!