Golden Rules, Golden Ticket - album review

Download: Auntie Pearl’s House; It’s Over; Don’t Be; Never Die

The unusual alliance of Floridian rapper/singer Eric Biddines with south London groovemaster Paul White brings an engaging, infectious charm to Golden Ticket reminiscent of Outkast and Arrested Development.

With copious assistance from multi-instrumentalist Shawn Lee, White creates slinky, rolling grooves incorporating everything from fretless bass to marimba and kalimba, over which Biddines delivers street sketches and epigrammatic non-sequiturs in a pithy, laid-back, dirty-South inflection. T

he mood ranges from the down-home slouch of “Auntie Pearl’s House” to the moody, down-tempo trip-hop of “Never Die” (featuring Yasiin Bey, formerly Mos Def), and from the bumping handclap groove of “Down South Boogie” to the boudoir-soul croon of “Play Some Luther” (“I’m gonna take my shirt off/ you’re gonna take your skirt off/ play some Luther Vandross”).