It's been the better part of 30 years since Paul Hardcastle united electro hip-hop, R&B, smooth jazz and synth pop fans with "Rain Forest." Milwaukee producers/instrumentalists Steve Misovy and Ronald Byrdsongs find inspiration from roughly the same influences on their six-track collaboration, Orinoco. Mingled amid the mix are a smattering of funk, what sounds like a Mavis Staples sample, piano tinkles and the redolence of a certain old Maxwell House Coffee jingle on numbers both danceable and contemplative. If Misovy Byrdsongs are a touch too quirky for lite jazz radio (and, indeed, they may not be), their groove-drenched braininess should have a future in movie and TV sports soundtracks.
Misovy Byrdsongs
Orinoco (Earsore)