TOMMY GUERRERO Vinyl & CDs

Review: Tommy Guerrero's sublime debut album Loose Grooves And Bastard Blues carved out his name as a musician, and followed hot on the heels of an already established skateboarding career. It's not often we can name an artist whose talents lend just as well to the axe as they do to the deck, but it's plain to see on this insouciant jazz/bossa nova collection: Guerrero is one dextrous bloke. With the skate career held firmly in mind, we can easily imagine these numbers as the backing cuts to a fish-eyed trickstyle video; it's a great testament to the pure joy of music-making too, with Guerrero insisting: "it was never meant to be released. I was just recording for the fun of it - still my fave. Oh so naive!"

Review: Guitarist, composer and skateboarder Tommy Guerrero hears several of his earliest albums reissued now via Be With, of which 2008's Return Of The Bastard was his fifth. Still evidently deep in the throes of recording for the pure fun of it, this fifteen-track album reflects a pure lyricless enjoyment that few other of Guerrero's contemporaries could ever hope to share. Perhaps it's the meditative truck of his earlier skate career that course-corrected his frame of mind to pure creative meditativeness; here driving noisy drum machines, lightly-amped two-tones, the occasional kalimba and faint vocals all collide for the perfect accompaniment to an implied visual narrative.

Review: Tommy Guerrero is a constantly insightful figure in the downtempo scene. In fact, everything about the man protrudes good vibes and a chilled, leaned-back sort of mood. As an important side note, he was one of the original skateboarders back in the 1980's, running wheelies and exporting the culture to mainland Europe, along with his connection to lounge music. Soul Food Taqueria is a 2003 album, originally out through the mighty Mo Wax, and now reissued finely on Be With. We love everything about this album, form its positive TOV, to the artwork and its seamless blend of hip-hop and ambient, a cocktail that still tastes more than fresh as of 2017. TO be honest, this is foundational gear, and it wouldn't be unfair to say that this sound has not progressed a whole lot since albums like these first dropped in the UK. Essential.