Soultru is Terrance Banks. He's based in the Quad Cities. Progeny is Erick Frias. As near as I can tell, he's based in Seattle. This set is one of Fake Four's freecember series of one-off albums. And as might be expected, the results are more freestyle than crafted. But only barely.

Soultru & Progeny Soultru & Progeny (Fake Four)

Banks provides the vocals, both sung and rapped. He doesn't have a classic range as a singer, but he makes up for that with his expressive style. Frias is responsible for producing the music, and he drops some lovely beats and great guitar (both acoustic and electric). The results are somewhere in-between r&b and hip hop, but not really pop.

Which is to say that this is stylish and not at all like anything that is being played on the radio (whatever that means these days). I have spent the better part of three weeks trying to get my head around this, and I haven't succeeded yet. The genre blending comes fast and furious, and Banks jumps around lyrically with abandon.

There are plenty of "I hope this sticks to the wall" moments, and that sort of artistic abandon provides a lot of the excitement and energy on this album. Luckily for us, most of the music sticks. This might be a one-off, but I hope Banks and Frias recognize how good they are together here. The spark on this album deserves to be ignited.

Jon Worley