From Underground Quality, to Third Ear, to Uzuri, one of 2009’s resurgent aesthetics was stripped down, analog house — a sound no one pulled off better than Fred P., best known as Black Jazz Consortium. When Structure was released last March, hardly anyone had gotten over his seminal New Horizon EP, and the appearance of almost a dozen new tracks was virtually overwhelming. But while that EP focused on accessible, romantic house, Structure finds Fred P going much deeper and darker, experimenting with clunky rhythms, stark arrangements and odd time signatures. “New Horizon” may be his best song ever, but more austere tracks like “Tea-Pot Science,” “Something Old” and “I Want That” reveal how subtle and refined Fred’s technique really is. Using little more than perfectly constructed bass kicks, hand claps and a
fistful of simple synth sounds, Structure outperformed every other album that came out this year. (Will Lynch)