Inspired by the empowered nature of many California youth, much of its Bay Area activist leanings have begun to infuse the once underground hip-hop massive with not only the Black Panther meets Deadhead hybrid but a sonic Tower of Power brute Too $hort musicality. Todd Shawn turf topicality with the newfound funk brought to life by numerous others is captivating the music of the West Coast landscape, bridging a market and mind state gap that hasn't walked hand and hand since Michael Franti was a Disposable Hero of Hypocrisy. Standing close to the top of this all, is the Quannum collective. Recent mini-opus' from Gift of Gab (4th Dimensional Rocketships Going Up), Lyrics Born (Later That Day) and even DJ Chief Xcel's recently released Femi Kuti mix-disc have pieced together this aforementioned milieu of harmonizing Funk, emotion and political awareness. Ambush hones in on them all, while it's a short release, with 9 tracks just under 40 minutes, its no slight from the previous Latryx fare, and is at its best another bright companion in Quannum's steadfast catalog from 2004. Lateef who might not be as breathless as Gift of Gab or as ready to belt out a song like Lyrics Born, is needless to say, high-powered behind the mic, creating exceptional pieces of writing in "If" and the title cut. Yet, given the album's brevity each and every moment counts when affecting the listener, as Gab and Lyrics Born's solo efforts were considerably longer in length thus leaving more room for expansion and some experimentation, Ambush's conceptual-to-jammy ratio might leave some diehards dying from some of the kindness here and there. A quote sums it up, "You gotta respect me doing this live and in the flesh" Lateef speaks on the album closer "365", which leads to the understanding behind some of the more extremely non-abrasive or political approaches. For as much material as Quannum releases, they tour even more so, it's nothing new or different, but truly coming to the forefront of their recorded studio material, this release being not the lesser. "Don't Stop" and "Beautiful You", are straight up love jams. Which is alright, the tracks might not match up well aside everything here but they're produced well and probably would be crowd favorites if performed. Chief Xcel's always seemingly overlooked formula balances the musicality of this project both internally and within the scope of this somewhat new-Funk movement in California, as an even keel of similarly chucky soul maps the direction. Great drums (as always), mild basslines tickled by a sundry from the Funk bed, enhanced the simply smart mode behind hit making. Gauging studio tracks for stage performance and essentially bottling as much energy on wax as possible. Granted, there are moments of reservation in Lateef's voice, this will make for a steady Fall title. In 2005, there better be new Latryx and Blackalicious albums though. - Peter Agoston