Aspects CD

If you copped last year's debut single, you'll be aware that STR4TA is an early '80s Brit-funk-inspired collaboration between Gilles Peterson and Incognito main man Jean-Paul Maunick (AKA Bluey). Aspects, their debut album, further expands on this Atmosfear-inspired template, flitting between up-tempo, jazz-dance friendly floor-fillers (see the inspired title track and Latin-tinged 'Vision 9'), rubbery jazz-funk workouts, soulful future sing-alongs and the kind of slick, synth-sporting fare that manages to be both deliciously loved-up and pleasingly glassy-eyed. With the experienced Maunick providing much of the instrumentation (including some Pat Metheny-esque jazz guitar work), the album is as musically rich and expansive as it is energetic and authentically free-wheeling. In a word: essential.