Reviewed: Various Artists – ‘ROOT DOWN 30’ [DAYBREAKERS Records]
Anniversary compilations can easily become exercises in nostalgia. ‘ROOT DOWN 30’ avoids that trap because Root Down itself was never particularly interested in looking backwards. Pre-order it here.
Since Rainer Trüby launched the Freiburg party in 1996, its identity has been built around connections rather than genres. Jazz, Brazilian music, broken beat, soulful house and Afro-Latin rhythms could all occupy the same dancefloor. Thirty years later that approach feels familiar, but this 10-track collection is a reminder of how naturally Root Down was joining those dots decades ago.
Flashbaxx’s ‘Brooklyn Love Boat’ provides one entry point before The Soul Session’s ‘Horse With No Name’ receives a Marlow & Trüby refix, immediately establishing the compilation’s willingness to move between live musicality and club-focused reconstruction. HITTO’s ‘All About It’ follows in reworked form before one of the collection’s most recognisable combinations arrives as Crackazat remixes Jazzanova and Clara Hill’s ‘No Use’.
From there the geographical and rhythmic boundaries loosen further. The Afro Love Project’s ‘One Love’ leads into the Yoruba Soul Mix of Rawb Boss’ ‘Coafeella’, while Jimpster reshapes Baianasystem, Antonio Carlos and Jocafi’s ‘A Fúgua’ with the kind of deep, measured groove that fits Root Down perfectly.
Da Lata’s ‘Jungle Kitten’ keeps the Brazilian connection running before Trüby himself joins Corrado Bucci as TRUCCY for ‘Kenyatta’, given a suitably expansive Afro Balearic treatment by Laroye. Felipe Gordon’s ‘Lets Get, Get Together’ closes proceedings, bringing the collection back towards the meeting point between jazz and house.
More important than any individual highlight is how little friction exists between those shifts. ‘ROOT DOWN 30’ never sounds like somebody attempting to demonstrate eclectic taste. It simply moves as Root Down always has.
Three decades later, that open-mindedness remains its greatest strength.
