WARP RECORDS
In the years following its 1995 release, George Evelyn aka DJ E.A.S.E.’s second album became shorthand for sophistication, its hip-hop/dub/soul fusion ubiquitous in any bar serving cocktails. Its pacifying, sunny grooves a laidback precursor to DJ Shadow’s more Burroughsian Endtroducing, which arrived a year on, would still be influential a decade later: acts like Lemon Jelly can be heard in Bless My Soul’s cartoon slide whistle and the playful jazz piano on Let’s Ascend, a new tune that’s one of this 25th anniversary remaster’s four bonus tracks. A marginally more energetic, but still valuable, live take on signature instrumental, the Air-meets-Bobby James soul groove of Nights Introlude, is another. Of the originals, Groove St. deserved its name, as did Dreddoverboard’s deep dub, if not Rise’s acid jazz. Sofas have never been the same.