- New York's Policy has officially moved from skippy 2-step to chunky disco. Last year's Hit Gone Bad first signalled the change, and Postscript, his debut for 100% Silk (and most high-profile release yet) drives this approach towards classic house. The album-length EP finds Policy in the same boat as countless other producers channeling the spirit of Chicago, but there's a sincerity and earthiness here that makes it a cut above the rest.
"Postscript 187" sounds like a collage of dusty old records, pivoting on a fleet-footed breakbeat and throwing a bunch of horn riffs on top, while "Grove Street Freeze" layers synths on synths and finishes it all off with some pleasant chimes. Both are retro, but Policy's tracks (or his samples) have the warmth of the old music he's evoking. "Remembrance" has a stutter to its step that quickly proves addictive, and these little details are what help to pull it above mere pastiche.
The flipside is less impressive. Policy breaks out the bongos, loading the leisurely "Ghost In The Grove" and the melting tones of "Wiseblood" with sumptuous hand percussion, but both are sleepily complacent, ambling along without much verve. It's the closing "Big Beast Anthem" that points the right way forward—though not quite the gatecrasher its name would imply, with its cinematic chords it reaches the heights of Hit Gone Bad. Giving way to euphoric waves that are kept in check by the gently percolating percussion, it's an exercise in restraint, a skill that the still-fresh faced producer will likely do well with in the future.
Tracklist A1 Postscript 187
A2 Grove Street Freeze
A3 Remembrance
B1 Ghost In The Groove
B2 Wiseblood
B3 Big Beast Anthem 1