Omar At Juno Download

Review: Omar's Sing If You Want It album, re-issued to much acclaim on Tru Thoughts in July, gets its second single release in the form of the It's So EP, featuring one of its undoubted highlights, the infectious "It's So". It's the diverse remixes that make this EP a must have; Zed Bias' remix of "It's So" turns the original into a bass-driven dancehall inspired bomb, whiles Scratch Professor's remix takes the pace right down, adding a soulful trumpet line which takes the somewhat bumping original into much mellower territory. The EP is rounded off by Mark De Clive-Lowe's neon tinted funk reworking of "Your Mess" which channels the spirit of Prince's 80s material through its fluorescent lens.

Review: Turntablist/hip-hop veteran Scratch Professor has a long history of collaboration with UK soul legend Omar, having first lent a hand on production way back in 1994. Last year, his slinky, hip-hop-soul remix of the singer's "It's So" single was widely heralded as his best work for years (not difficult, mind, since he'd been largely inactive since the tail end of the '90s). On the back of that success, Tru Thoughts have asked him to remix more tracks from the excellent Sing (If You Want It) album. He does a bang-up, job, too offering deep, bumpin', jazzwise hip-hop revisions of "Your Mess", "Sing", "Ghana Emotion" and, most impressively, "Be A Man", which has a real Guru/Jazzmatazz feel.