- Both sides of Russ Yallop's debut on Crosstown Rebels (he's also recorded as Rusty James for Mothership and Leftroom) are basic exercises in theme and variation in the broad category of disco-vocal house. But there's a pretty marked contrast between the two tracks, even as they do much the same sorts of things to the same kinds of sources.
"I Can't Wait" is the more obviously classicist of the two sides—which for one thing means it's the one in which the least amount of disruption of the material takes place. In this case, it's a woman singing a couple of lines that are usually truncated down to the title phrase and a whispered "hey, boy," all sent through filters galore, as the track steadily breaks down and builds up. A keyboard solo near the 3.5-minute mark boosts it some. But at a full 8:30, the track's presence dissipates rather than gathers force.
"Rock Me" is similar structurally but has a different effect. This track drifts too, but a lot more comfortably. Maybe it's because disco-orchestral stabs serve as a mild disruption within the piece, in essence brightening the recording's palate by hitting "reset" a lot; but the husky-femme "rock me, baby" sample seems to goose things every time it's deployed, which is a lot—and which is hardly a complaint.
Tracklist A I Can't Wait
B Rock Me