James Pants All the Hits

• Words: Patric Fallon
• Label: Miserable Beast
• XLR8R Rating: 5.5/10

While any entrepreneur will tell you that all you need to start a successful business is a good idea, the same can't be said in the music world. Stones Throw wunderkind James Pants has put together a 25-track album of what sounds like unfinished song ideas. The music itself is produced in the same "late at night and high in my bedroom" style as Pants' debut album, Welcome, but with less satisfying results. Marketed as a genreless collection of "library music," elements of '80s boogie and old-school hip-hop are still the main components of Pants' arsenal. Most songs are small explorations of big beats and squelching basslines that rarely hit the two-minute mark. Unfortunately, right when a track starts to go somewhere, the music ends abruptly, leaving us wanting more. All the Hits is chock-full of possibilities, but Pants' music is stronger when he can fully flesh out his ideas.