he creative apartheid of hip-hop and house music is tired. Built around collective misunderstandings—that house music is a sell-out or gay; that hip-hop is gangster or misogynistic—they miss a critical fact. Hip-hop and house music came from the same place, DJs rocking disco records.

Stuttgart-based producer Boris Mezga knows. His second album as Comfort Fit explores the grey area between solid boom bap hip-hop and slow-mo house grooves. The overlapping area is hot with producers and music fans right now. Although undoubtedly boosted by the rise of 'chill-out' CDs, the music produced has nothing to do with the commercial imperatives of another new bar. Instead, from Theo Parrish through to DJ Zeph, via Rae & Christian, the results are beautifully stoned soul music. And with the likes of Jazzanova's Sonarkollektiv and Bugz In The Attic's West London scene melding hip-hop, house, techno, and drum'n'bass into a whole new kind of jazz dance, the scene is set for a next step forward.

This isn't the step forward, but having started DJing at 13, Mezga is well placed to make that step. It shows in the studied funk of the beats, his expert use of samples and most of all in the warm vibe. However, oddly enough, for a hip-hop producer, it was the stark lines of mid-nineties techno that captured his imagination early on.

British electro label Clear is an obvious comparison. Although they have now moved into ambience and abstract electronics (and a name-change to Defocus), artists like Reflection, Jake Slazenger, and Dr.Rockit obviously affected his sound. Like them, Mezga undoes the knots of his hip-hop and techno influences and carefully brushes them out, before tying his own special bows.

Forget and Remember kicks off with “Planetary Picknick”'s sparse beat, the four am vibe complemented by a spacey synth. It's a perfect introduction to the album, Mezga gradually fills the space between the beats; first a lazy rhythm, then a distorted melody swirls and is joined by a metallic bassline.

Sometimes it is a little too sparse. “As Pure As Possible” reminds me of Herbert's Wishmountain or Dr Rockit projects, and like them, its warehouse floor rhythm can be a little empty, a little too repetitive. But then again, I enjoy those Herbert tracks more every time I hear them.

Mezga invited a several guests into the studio on Forget and Remember. The first appears just three tracks in on the icy “Freeze the Cut.” Orlando MC Blaktronics is no stranger to working with electronic producers; his last release saw collaborations with Domu and Mike Grant. Here he rides the Antipop-style groove with an understated, almost mumbled paean to the joys of downloaded beats: "If I unzip this would you download that? / Would you make a new folder just to hold this track?"

”She Knows Me Now” is closer to Fat Jon and Panda One's releases on Counterflow. Mad jazz tangents, odd little helium vocals ala Quasimodo, and a solid rhyme from Washington rapper Mercury Waters. Waters' latest album sees collaborations with the Last Poets, John Legend, and Kanye West, so either he's got lots of money or he's very good. He's good here, though the track is claustrophobic—bells, beats, acid bassline wiggles—it works, but only just.

Forget and Remember is available as a free zipped download from Berlin-based Tokyo Dawn records.