Hand me a late pass on Two Fingers, a UK based production team consisting of minor avant drum n’ bass legend Amon Tobin and his virtually unknown pal Doubleclick doing their best Timbaland impression. Their album dropped months ago but only appeared on my radar recently when I was at the bottom of a Timbaland tangent. You see, more often than not the dreaded Timbaland tangent ends with the question of “what ever happened to Ms. Jade?” It turns out Two Fingers happened, enlisting her for two tracks on the album.

So here we are, thirteen years after Timbaland broke onto radio with “Pony,” placing him right on the point of the timeline where nostalgic outsiders pick up on trends and run with them. Now British are producers trying to revive that old Timbo sound, reaching back to him in authentically in degrees through collabs with his near-been protege as if she was Lyn Collins or Terry Callier. St-st-st-stuttering space-hop is the new rare groove and I’m officially old. Next thing you know a reunited 1 Life 2 Live** will have booked a week at the Jazz Cafe. (more…)