Tommy Guerrero - Road To Knowhere

Tommy Guerrero's Road to Knowhere is a beautifully understated record that sits somewhere between instrumental Hip-Hop, dub, jazz, soul and cinematic groove. Released in 2000 on Mo' Wax, it reflects Guerrero's background as a professional skateboarder while drawing heavily on the beat-driven culture surrounding the label.

Built around warm basslines, dusty drums, guitar, percussion and subtle electronic textures, tracks such as “Organism,” “40 Summers” and “It Gets Heavy” favour atmosphere and groove over traditional song structures. Guerrero's guitar playing gives the record an organic quality, while the stripped-back production leaves plenty of space for the rhythm section to breathe.

Road to Knowhere is a classic crate-digger's instrumental, connecting the laid-back funk of the West Coast with the sample-driven sensibility of underground Hip-Hop and the experimental sounds of Mo' Wax. It's the kind of record where the details reveal themselves slowly — dusty drums, deep bass, guitar fragments and grooves that make it equally at home in a DJ set or a producer's record bag.