Gaudi is an interesting artist who has spent his career expanding his horizons. He's a producer who has always been one step of the ball game and as a result over the course of his relatively short career has become a go to guy in high demand. "Why," you say? Well he's one of a handful of artists who easily blend a variety of worldly sounds into something that sounds fresh, innovative, and ahead of the curve. In Gaudi's case he's taken reggae, dub, chill out, and house music and seamlessly mixed them into something that's far beyond all of them.
His latest album, In Between Times may seem like a reggae album on first glance but it really isn't. Rather, In Between Times is a dubbed out journey into the great beyond that pushes the genre and everything along with it forward. Gaudi has created an extremely dance friendly record that's so well thought out and produced it's just about unforgettable. In Between Times is huge, it's far reaching, and crosses over genres and sounds as if it were a normal thing to do. Need an example? Just look at the guest list, Lee 'Scratch' Perry, The Orb, Jahmai, it's truly all over the place. It's the sort of record that brings to mind the old idea of a Soundsystem. It's big, massive, vast, amazing, clashes with sounds and at times reminds me of a more chilled out version of Leftfield.
Synths sit next to reggae guitar riffs, vocals wash in and out, songs soar and glide and the whole thing is wonderfully out of this world. With brilliant bassline peaks and valleys and hints of all kinds of instruments from strings to horns the whole thing takes on this vibe about being in a constant state of movement; the songs just lift you up and carry you away. Gaudi has created a post-reggae dubbed out excursion that's inescapably brilliant. Having spent some time with In Between Times I can see why Gaudi has developed such a fantastic reputation and such a crammed calendar. Gaudi may be in between times...but they are times so far ahead of the rest of humanity we may never catch up.
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