I always had a bit of a soft spot for Emperors New Clothes (a.k.a. ENC). Despite being grouped in the trip hop/acid jazz world that saw a bit of an explosion in the mid 90s (which was not surprising as they were signed to Acid Jazz...) they always felt more like dub-jazz than acid-jazz to me.
This is their long lost third album that followed the much under rated Wisdom And Lies and was originally planned for release in 1996 but never saw the light of day (you can do a bit of Google research to get the back story on that one...)
The producer for the project was sonic adventurer Trevor Jackson who brings his own influences from the worlds of post-punk, hip hop and dub into the mixing pot and the results are really nothing short of spectacular creating a sound that hasn't dated in the slightest. In fact, if anything, it feels more relevant now than ever occupying a similar sonic realm to other current practitioners in this area such as the instrumental post-punk dub of Holy Tongue and the dub-jazz of Taikosie (both of whose records I've had in the shop recently).
It therefore would have been a real tragedy if this record had continued to sit on the the metaphorical shelf collecting dust so it's great to see it finally get the release it deserves here on this beautifully presented gatefold double LP in a limited edition of 250.
Tracklist