Butcher Brown's DJ Harrison is so open about his inspirations that each one of his varied projects has come across as a celebration of Black music with strong attestation to his place in the lineage. Overt and hidden references are threaded throughout his catalog, from titles like "Erykah's Gun" to his Street Corner Music effort Slyish, a wildly creative tribute to early-'70s Sly & the Family Stone. For his third Stones Throw album, the Virginian turns in a funky and unvarnished all-covers set on which he does almost all of the instrumentation. Coming off extensive work on Kurt Elling's Grammy-nominated albums SuperBlue and SuperBlue: The Iridescent Spree, and Butcher Brown's own Solar Music, Harrison here crafts 11 interpretations that brim with joy. The set is neatly bookended by nods to outsider studio boffins. He begins by applying some grease to Gary Wilson's scuttling "You Were Too Good to Be True" (1977) and concludes with Shuggie Otis' puttering "Pling!" (1973), adding some dreamy vocalizations that evoke Deodato's "Univac Loves You." A couple mid-'70s fusion classics are handled with élan. Eddie Henderson's dark Afrofuturist groove "Galaxy" (1975) provides Harrison with a chance to pay tribute to the mind-expanding synthesizer wizardry of George Duke; the low end is so full that bass clarinet is not missed. Stevie Wonder's supremely knotty "Contusion" (1976) is almost halved, perhaps so Harrison could save himself from collapsing into a heap. A few selections are less expected. Take the lazing "L'Anthropofemme" (1981), West Coast AOR worship originally recorded by one-off French band Syntaxe, or the Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows" (1966), almost entirely fogged out with help from Stones Throw boss Peanut Butter Wolf under his government name. As a singer, Harrison is more about warmth and feel than technical proficiency; his versions of Donald Fagen's "IGY" (1982) and Vince Guaraldi's "Little Birdie" (1973), cleverly placed back-to-back, impart all the necessary optimism and delight. (There's a layer of humor to analog adherent Harrison covering "IGY" four decades after it became known as one of the earliest all-digital recordings.) Harrison's love shines through each of the selections, and they're pulled apart and reenvisioned in the assembly process, as if the musician is gamely educating not just the audience but himself as well. - Andy Kellman
| A1 | You Were Too Good To Be True |
| A2 | Galaxy |
| A3 | Igy |
| A4 | Lil Birdie |
| A5 | Contusion |
| A6 | Sweet Sticky Thing |
| B1 | Ebony Moonbeams |
| B2 | Together |
| B3 | Tomorrow Never Knows |
| B4 | L'Anthropofemme |
| B5 | Pling |
