XLR8R

Mark Pritchard has beats. Figuring out what to do with them, though, sometimes challenges the UK producer. The grooves spread across Time Out of Mind-a collection spanning four years-range from downright nasty to monotonously downtrodden. When he lays down the funk-jazz (as in the killer opener "Have A Good Time") or allows more breathing room in his rhythms ("Roll On" featuring the gorgeous vocals of Eska) the man is at top game. When he drops into caf»-lite bossa breaks, it goes nowhere. A nearly beautiful album too stuck in melancholic repetitiveness to matter.