Steve Lacy – Apollo XXI

The Internet’s Steve Lacy has released a soul-filled and groovy second project under the title Apollo XXI.  The second track on the album is a nine-minute musical journey with the catchy refrain “how many out there just like me”, full of panning ambient vocals and a mellow guitar solo halfway through. The track appears to be over at both the five-minute and eight-minute mark but transitions into something worthy of entirely separate tracks, the first with spacey pads and a dark Moog-style bass, and the second featuring a lo-fi drum beat and more mellow guitar chords. Basement Jack is a high energy track with bouncy drums and more catchy vocal delivery from Lacy. This is followed by Guide, which features one of the funkiest basslines on the entire album, over a soprano vocal performance. Love 2 Fast has a different sound than most tracks on the album, and sounds like it belongs on a Beatles b-side record, with a fuzzy guitar solo that would make Jimi Hendrix proud. The album ends with a track featuring a relaxed-delivery rap verse from Lacy that fades into a soulful slow jam titled 4ever, a fitting end to the project.