Unagi is clearly in love with the past. Many tracks on his new album, Reinventing The Eel, testify to that fact. They are filled with parts of the Smooth Jazz and Lite-Funk of the ’70s. But Unagi doesn’t simply present these old school signifiers and expect people to nod with approval. Instead, he makes these songs more than genre exercises and creates something close to forward thinking nostalgia. Unfortunately, only a few of the songs are worthy of such high praise. Some are saddled with stock beats and lazy guest appearances. In fact, more often than not, Unagi does his best work when alone, the instrumentals accounting for most of the highlights of album.
The record opens with one such track, “Liftoff,” but that name is misleading as the song is really more of a mid-tempo grove with some interesting keyboard loops overtop, but it serves its purpose as an introduction to the smooth-groovers’ paradise that Unagi is trying to create. Other stellar vocal-free tracks include “Four State View” and “Herb Man Theme.” The former features a slow groove augmented with funky guitar scratches, flutes, horn stabs, and to top it off a great organ break. The latter could be confused for the opening music to a ’70s cop show that never was, its breezy synth line conjuring images of cops cruising in a classic muscle car while its funkier passages bringing to mind shots of streetwise hustlers dressed in alligator shoes. “Top Cat” is the best instrumental on the album and probably the best track overall. Over a jazzy beach vibe with just enough electronic flourishes to keep it modern, Unagi plays the melody to Bay Area icon Steve Miller‘s “Swing Town” and it actually works perfectly.
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Unfortunately, not all the tracks are as much fun or enjoyable. “Can I Have Your Number” has a limp beat and a boring chorus and is not helped at all by a lazy guest appearance by Uppanotch. “Previous Me” also suffers from the same problems. The beat is uninteresting and Orukusaki‘s attempts at spiritual profundity only lead to childish lines like, “People always wonder where you go when you die / Some say it’s underground, others say it’s the sky / Call it heaven or hell and that depends if you lie.” Closing track “Song of Satisfaction” is a waste despite strong verses from Eddie Meeks because its annoyingly saccharine chorus is made up of, no joke, a song from a Snickers commercial. Worst of all is “Mondays” a boring song about a tired topic. A sample lyric from the Substitute Teachers: “Return home and your hungry as hell / But your roommate ate all the leftover Taco Bell.” But not all the tracks with lyrics are poor. “Grown Man Flowin” features Motion Man dexterous flow as well as a catchy chorus with rising horn stabs and a smooth sax throughout. And “U Stole My Heart” which features Unagi himself rapping is a funny tribute to mid-’80s slow jams complete with lyrics that are so stupid, they have to be seen as intended.
Unagi proves himself a producer worthy of your time; his instrumentals alone would have made a great EP. What this album in particular doesn’t prove is whether or not Unagi is capable of creating interesting beats for emcees. Nearly all the tracks with vocals feature beats that are tucked behind the instrumental cuts. But until then, it is plenty of fun to visit the warped but enjoyable retro world that Unagi creates when he is on his own.
