[Wild Oats]

You’ll find Kyle Hall’s records filed under “house,” but the music of this protégé of Rick Wilhite, Mike Huckaby, and Omar S has just as much to do with funk, jazz, hip-hop, and R&B. An unkempt braid of diverse influences and bright-eyed talent, this record — Hall’s second release for his own Wild Oats imprint and his fifth overall — resists categorizations as pat as “deep house.” Progressing further along the warm and woolly path of last year’s “Worx of Art” EP, Hall’s latest bears the markings of a Roy Ayers acid jam, a dusty Dilla riff, and some Parliament funk. It’s easy to imagine this record finding a receptive audience outside the dance music demographic, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t still try to horde him for our own. Indeed, you’ll hear plenty of evidence of Hall’s reverence for those aforementioned house music mentors too, though this time the music settles on soul-jazz territory adjacent to the plot Theo Parrish has claimed for his recent work.

The title track is credited to Bsmnt City Anymle Kontrol, a combo featuring Hall and the late Dorian Fiddler (son of Amp Fiddler), among others. The live instrumentation comes off assured but decidedly unpolished. This isn’t a combo flexing its musicianship so much as doggedly pursuing a groove. Both soulful and cosmic, the hair-down vibe verges on fusion, but has a weathered roughness to it, so that “The Perfekt Sin” manages to sound both busted-up and like a spaceship taking off. “Love Kontrol” is an airy tangle of sweet, absently tinkling keys. It has a charming music box feel, enhanced by occasional soft coos (from Hall himself?). At the same time, it could pass for a side of abstract hip-hop. Hall says he’s cooked up a CD’s worth of boom-bap for pending release. This, along with last year’s “I <3 Dr. Girlfriend," suggests that he'll have no trouble making the transition.

To my ears, "OatN Out" shows the clearest Theo Parrish similarities, but there's something playful and bright here that's Hall's own thing. An inebriated, dense composition of disparate grooves, melodies, and noodlings, it toes the line on looseness. Had things strayed just a little further, or had he added two more elements to the mix, and this might have sounded like a rehearsal in Hall's garage. But Hall's background in dance music keeps things orderly, and we're instead treated to the musical ruminations of a capable, imaginative musician with enthusiasm to burn. I suppose now is as good a time as any to bring up the unavoidable fact that Kyle Hall is all of 18-years-old. As sheepishly humbled as I am by the quality of work and maturity of taste he shows at this age, I'm more so excited by a sneaking suspicion that Hall's best work lies ahead of him. Most of all, though, I'm grateful that I don't have to wait til then to get to know his already well-defined musical personality.