New music: Wax Tailor

Wax Tailor is the alias of French producer Jean-Christophe Le Saoût who has been crafting melancholic, hip-hop laden tracks since his first release in 2004. Wax Tailor takes much from the genre of hip-hop popularized by DJ Shadow, heavy beats, strong instrumentals, and a stunningly clever use of samples, or in Tailor's case, samples of movie dialogue. Last week saw the release of his third album titled In The Mood For Life.

In The Mood For Life retains all of the elements that have made the previous two albums popular, the clever use of movie dialogue, the heavy strings and overarching melancholy. But Mood shows a little more maturity with a wider mix of musical styles that gets away from the consistent sound of the previous releases.

The album capably handles the variety of styles with a well balanced mix of instrumental, vocal, and rap tracks. Despite the variety, the tempo and flow of the album remains smooth and fluid, never really reaching a crescendo but also never falling flat. Stand outs include vocal tracks Dragon Chasers and Dry Your Eyes, the motown-esque Leave It, the quirky cut-up track Sit & Listen, and the Rakim sampling B-Boy On Wax.

If you already own either of Wax Tailor’s previous two releases then this is an essential purchase. If you’re a fan of DJ Shadow, UNKLE, or RJD2 then Wax Tailor is definitely an artist worth checking out. In The Mood For Life is available now on iTunes and you can catch Wax Tailor live in San Francisco on October 16th as part of his US tour as it swings through most major cities in October. Detailed tour information can be found on his website.