Red Broad has developed his theories for music production. Is it “ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny?” I don’t think so. Is it “survival of the fittest?” Probably not. These descriptions have been created to illustrate the theory behind Darwin’s “natural selection.” Some have called it evolution, but even Charles avoided the use of this term in his seminal “Origin of Species” because it implies an idea of perfection. In reality, Darwin’s ideas were meant to describe a process of change. Red Broad has chosen the name Evolve to describe his method for writing music that is a process of change. And, on Happy Hour in the Gene Pool each track moves and morphs to create a unique musical organism.
With Evolve, Red has perfected an experiment where many styles of music are assembled together that makes this first release stand out amongst the human population of electronic acts. Red is an English transplant who has made contact with some interesting collaborators On Happy Hour in the Gene Pool, and there is no lack of creativity here. It breathes of many different life forms from the triphop sounds of “Isolated, Detached & Remote” to the nujazz rebirth found on “Couldn’t Be More Wrong.” On the latter, we find the subtle, sultry vocals of Margo Reymundo that carries this track through a metamorphosis of sorts. This track is ripe for martini hour. Her wealth of vocal experience shines on “Couldn’t Be More Wrong” and on “The Way Back”, and the listener begins to believe that Evolve is an intelligent species. Happy Hour is further complimented with the nice beat work found on “Bushwhacked,” a name that we Americans might find humor in. “Bushwhacked” moves sinuously with a heavy bass line that carries an air of spy sophistication. The gene pool continues to remain diverse on this release as we hear the urban influence of Tantrum. “By Definition: Cool” and “Mice on the Ice” are his offspring, and Tantrum provides an edge with rap against hip-hop sounds that add to a well-rounded selection on Happy Hour. Other downtempo tracks like “Mellow” and “Rusty Ferrari” have interesting use of brass that is sometimes wrongly overlooked in the world of electronic music.
Throughout the 60 minutes on Happy Hour, we find an eclectic mix of electronic sounds infused with horns, guitar, lyrics, and great production work. Each track is an “evolutionary” process of musical “creation,” two words often considered polar opposites in the modern world of science and religion. But in music, Evolve proves that their process for writing the music on Happy Hour in the Gene Pool can cross any divide and create something beautiful.