Posted on 08/11/2009
Detroit creativity gets entangled with Miami's Vices in this concept album with brash and breezy results. A picaresque crime adventure, Turn up the Smooth details SNB’s migration to Dade County.

“Heat,” “Last Tango” and the writhing, wriggly “The Set Up” (featuring Baatin of Slum Village) are vividly drawn Tony Starks style capers.

"Dade County Cruisin" rolls along nicely and many tracks are smoothness personified. Stoopz lays down a truly panoramic soundtrack of jazz, dusty soul and loose funk loops coated by a laidback Drew Breeze.

Still, some more charisma, or camp wouldn’t go amiss. Far from a Crockett or Tubbs with the ladies, Breeze dumps a possibly pregnant ex, puts a hit on a femme fatale, “Eleanor,” and spits venom at females elsewhere (“Bitches Know,” "Punch Drunk"). Such ill-advised bars sour the project, or perhaps it adds to the ‘xploitation theme they're gunning for.

Thankfully, tracks like “So Pimpish” are an aural delight providing a heavenly soundtrack, albeit lyrically sparse. The aural collages of this, “Hustletude,” and “Summer Nights” are hard to resist and feature deftly placed sound bites subtly showing their wit, and heart. The way the laugh on “30 Keys” is played out is poetry.

SNB have produced an atmospheric concept album that sticks to its narrative. The rough edges rudely remain, this partnership needs more “Mercury Morris” and a lot less “Honey Smacks," to truly turn up the smooth.

- Sonia N.