O'Spada
Time 7"
Make Mine/Despotz Records

It's nice to hear a woman aping Prince's funk as opposed to the usual falsetto-bearing manchild. Julie Spada's natural range is a perfect fit for the style and she does a great job with it, navigating deftly through all of the sharp twists and turns she sets up for herself in the arrangement. Shame that the hook isn't a bit stronger and the b-side remixes (by Montauk and Naiv) are throwaways because the beat on the original is really happening, despite my distaste for slap-bass, wacky synth and all other obvious 80s-era musical crimes. Same shame goes for whoever decided to press this on 7" as opposed to a proper DJ-ready 12" dance single because the pressing really suffers from a deficiency of bass. Still, I must say that "Time" bodes well for the forthcoming full-length "Pay off", due out later this month. O'Spada is not without potential.
- Avi Roig