James Hardway has been a visionary of electronic music since 1983 when he recorded his first album under his birth name David Harrow. Since then, he's been working with such big shots as Psychic TV's Genesis P-Orridge, Atari Teenage Riot, Jah Wobble, The Orb and Depeche Mode.

Easy Is A Four Letter Word, his third full- length release under the Hardway alias, is decidedly jazzier than his prior drum-n-bass efforts. And his beats have always been speedy, but this time around, the BPM-o-meter is practically off the scale. It gives Hardway a truly unique sound-- one that blends contemporary jazz loops with breakneck breakbeats and Photek- inspired chilly atmospherics.

Where Hardway truly differs from other jazzy drum-n-bass artists is in his limited usage of recognizable samples. Instead of stealing horn samples from old Coltrane records, James has friends step in and play a few notes, and he draws his samples from those recordings.

Tracks like the psychedelic opener "Velocity Curves," the oceanic "Theo Steps In" and the phenomenal bass attack of "Illustrated Man" are enough to keep the record really interesting, but a few too many of these numbers sound alike. Of course, even with a couple of similar moments, these tracks remain better than your average drum-n-bass.

-Ryan Schreiber