If you don’t know about Quantic by now, you better ask somebody. The beat-slinging genius whose mom calls him Wil Holland only drops full-length albums every two years or so, so when he does, you’d best pay attention. 'Announcement To Answer' is his first effort since 2004’s excellent 'Mishaps Happening,' and it’s another instant classic, standing at the crossroads where funk, soul, jazz, hip-hop, and expert crate-digging meet. I was instantly struck by the proliferation of samples on this album. Maybe it’s just been too long since I listened to Mishaps…but I remember that one as having a lot of live, jazzy elements. Holland dusts off his guitar plenty of times here, but many of the album’s best songs are structured around a catchy and expertly-flipped sample. On “Bomb in a Trumpet Factory,” it’s a handful of minor-keyed jazz horn hits, while the title track features insanely hooky tango snippets augmented by crisp drums and jazzy vibraphone. “Tell It Like You Mean It” is another favorite of mine, a summery broken beat affair where live horns dance over soothing, muted saxophone loops.

He kicks it equally as hard on the live tip, busting out with the latin throwdown “Politick Society,” where the vocals of Noelle Scaggs play second fiddle to brilliant banjo and accordion parts. That’s to say nothing of the heavy-ass drums. “Sabor” continues the latin theme, with salsa horns, Holland’s live guitar, and vocals from Tempo floating over a house beat. “Meet Me at the Pomegranate Tree” flips things a bit, hearkening back to Two Pages-era 4 Hero with tasty live strings over funky, drum-and-bass-styled rhythms. The album only loses steam on the tracks featuring stateside MC Ohmega Watts. It’s not that he’s wack, it’s just that rap vocals are completely superfluous on Quantic tracks. Watts is taking up space that could be filled with horns, keys, or more great samples. If you took him out of the otherwise ill “Ticket to Know Where,” I wouldn’t shed a tear. On the whole, we’ve got another future classic on our hands, here. There are only 9 tracks, but each one is a gem. The genre of funky downtempo/electronica/beats has very few geniuses, but Holland is certainly one of them. To sleep on him is to do a disservice to yourself. Don’t do it.