Customer Reviews

An Announcement to Answer

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Will Holland aka Quantic has a DJ's sense of rhythm and it shows throughout his production work. This makes sense considering he is a sought after DJ on both sides of the Atlantic. The rhythm section of each song on An Announcement to Answer is geared to moving bodies on a dancefloor. Whether Latin, African, or jazz-infused the predominant musical influence of this record is club culture.

Horns are as omnipresent here as they once were in Pete Rock productions. There's nothing on this album that doesn't feature a large helping of horn play. The normally stabbing, almost percussion-like horns compliment Holland's own incredibly funky play on the bass and drums to create a rhythm triumvirate that drives Announcement's production.

As with any production album, a large part of its success or failure will rest in the selection of vocalists. While less than half of this record features vocalists, they are chosen perfectly. Label mate and stand-out left coast MC Ohmega Watts provides the album's dose of virtuosic MCing. Ohmega's ability to flow effortlessly on pretty much everything serves him well as he takes Holland's left-of-center production efforts over the top on "Blow Your Horn" and "Ticket to Know Where."

Reaching further into the west coast stable of talent, Holland taps Rebirth vocalist Noelle Scaggs for a beautiful turn on the Latin inspired "Politick Society." Scaggs not only blows things out of the water, but also delivers a heavy message of self-empowerment.

The second of the album's most obviously Latin tracks also features guest vocals. This time Tempo of the Candela All-Stars does the honors and the result is something as likely to move hips in San Juan as in the UK.

Holland says the sound on this latest album is a result of where his musical tastes have taken him recently. If so, An Announcement represents a very, very good direction.

I started listening to Quantic with Mishaps Happening, and this is an excellent follow-up to that album. The same jazzy-funky-housey Quantic feel is here, but this time Quantic is exploring more Latin-sounding and hip hop themes along with those he's already mastered. As a fan of hip hop and rap, I got a big kick out of the tracks featuring Ohmega Watts (though I had never heard Watts before this album). My personal favorite is the final track, "Tell It Like You Mean It", which starts off with soothing low-key woodwind-ish tones before building up to a fun funky tune.

The best parts are the beginning and the end and everything in between but the best song is "tell it like you mean it."

he has a few songs of this style of latin jazz that has such energy. prelude to happenings off of mishaps happening is another and if you like those check one off's and B-sides the whole album is that way

This album has some really great sounds from all kinds of sources. Lush textures alternate from the far east to more of a latin feel, and touch all kinds of points in between. It's a very enjoyable album.

Ubiquity label-mate Ohmega Watts' guest appearance is the lowpoint of the album. The two tracks he is on (especially track 2) are really just uninspired rehashes of things I've heard before. Having heard his album "The Find" in its entirety, it's safe to say that Watts is a far better producer than he is an MC.

All in all a pretty good album with some skipable tracks.

Been listening to quantic for more than 2 years, this album is as good as anything. He just keeps getting better