QPE's latest effort entitled "Gentrified" delivers the kind of smooth, mellowed-out rhythmic grooves you thought were lost after drum 'n' bass hit the scene. Although it's tempting to invoke "dub" as a stylistic influence in this album, it isn't really, or at least not in the directly audible sense. Think of this as hip-hop strained through the same hazy, laid-back filter as dub, but don't get echoes in your slowly nodding head, because the beats and sounds just don't play that way.

1. Satellite
2. Stare
3. Mirrored
4. Once Upon
5. McGarrett
6. Kitty
7. Uptown
8. Ant Farms And Armadillos
9. The Devil You Know is Better Than The Devil You Don't
10. Green Eyes
11. Lapland
12. Donna Martin Graduates
13. Turtle
14. Milk

If you're already familiar with the sound The Agriculture cultivates, QPE's latest won't disappoint. After a short intro the album kicks off with "Stare", a slow rolling beat and bass heavy number with droplets of fuzzy synth keys that just make you feel all nostalgic inside. "Mirrored" provides a strong follow-up with lighter beat work and similarly styled, fuzzy synth keys. By the third track "Once Upon", you'll notice each song is almost a variation of the one before. Although the sounds and beat patterns make constant (and subtle) evolutionary changes, the tempo remains the same.

After nodding your way through the bassline-free beats of "McGarrett", you'll find the bassline of the next track "Kitty" would have fit nicely into its rhythm. After this point however, the lineage begins to dissolve. It's also at this point you realize (or not) that Gentrified's lush vine of sounds have put your ever-nodding head into an almost meditative state.

Personal most fav's are "Donna Martin Graduates", "McGarrett", "Stare" and "Turtle".

I'm gonna reach way back and call this ambient, blunted, hip-hop that plays repetition to a strength. Get ya hands on it.

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