Everywhere at Once

As a founding member of California’s Quannum Projects (previously known as Solesides), Tom Shimura has already established his indie-rap bona fides. Yet, with his distinctive nasal rasp, slippery flow, and irresistible dance rhythms, he’s always presented a pop-friendly veneer, especially for such an underground champion. *Everywhere at Once*, his debut for Anti, the stalwart indie label, could have been his career-defining masterwork, the album that exceeded and built on his considerable achievements. Instead, it’s simply another tight and tempting Lyrics Born project, filled to the gills with electro funk, disco, and contemporary soul grooves. Pulsing tracks like “Hott 2 Deff” (with Jurassic 5’s Chali 2na) and “Don’t Change” (boasting a punchy three-piece horn section) will no doubt get bodies moving, but things get even better when he moves out of his comfort zone on tracks like the grinding “I’m a Phreak,” the New Wave, Devo-inspired “Do U Buy It?” and the fantastically dynamic “I Can’t Decide,” all of which seem to owe a nod to Cee-lo Green and Gnarls Barkley. More comfortable than ever in the studio, Shimura’s production pops and sparkles, thanks to his strategic use of live musicians.

The best parts of Everywhere at Once show this Solesides alum as a lighthearted yet substantially energetic vocal presence at the center of a big, shameless funk record.

Lyrics Born's easygoing drawl and grainy timbre have always signaled a guy who loves a good time. But even given how steeped in cusp-of-the-'80s funk and R&B; his music has frequently been, it's never sounded more acutely of that era than on Everywhere At Once. The looseness of musical touches like the guitar plucking…

Bay Area rapper Lyrics Born has never followed -- or tried to follow -- the typical musical route, first with his work with Lateef as Latyrx and continuing though his decision to back himself with a funk band during his shows, even releasing a live album (a rare thing in hip-hop) in 2006.

Tokyo born Tom Shimura is a challenge to the industry by his existence alone, made a force to be reckoned with by his continually blossoming underground...