Archive for the ‘music reviews’ Category.
dubstep reviews
No, this isn’t some kind of road to damascus conversion, I just happen to have been given some dubstep tunes that I actually like for a change. I admit this is a surprise after several years of slagging off most of the genre for just not being good enough.
But as usual there are people working at the edges who are doing good stuff. In my own biased way I am still prepared to check stuff out if it is recommended by people I respect or if it’s made or released by people I like. The latter is true here, so the usual disclaimers apply.
Subeena – Boksd/Znare/Pepepe – Agosto Morado /2080 12″ (Imminient IMM004)
We gave Imminent’s previous release by Wagawga a nice review in Woofah, so I didn’t groan when this promo slipped through the letterbox. “Boksd” is a filmic night drive tune which is right up my street. Some of the melodies remind me of slightly melancholic techno like Colin Faver used to play.
“Znare” is much harsher – the opening made me worry about an incoming wobble fest. But my fears were displaced with the arrival of female MC Violet who I think is spitting in Portuguese (the language I have had the most troube with)? Subeena seriously messes with her voice throughout the track, giving it a nice glitchy feel. No doubt this will get played out the most, but despite its undoubted quality it’s my least favourite track on this release.
“Pepepe – Agosto Mordo (Subeena Remix)” – reminds me of the tale of a Czech canary called Pepik which I read to my daughter. Whilst Pepik is flying over the old town of Prague having escaped his cage, he may well hear the odd chiming melody. If you liked Orbital’s more ambienty tracks circa “The Box” then this is for you (it’s not a rip off, it’s just shorthand – I have to finish this entry before the other half shows up in a minute).
“2080″ is very special indeed – more great chiming, but this time laid over a great understated crunchy rhythm track.
Subeena knows that you don’t have to smack someone in the face to make an impact – everything here is in the right place at the right time.
Spatial – 80207 / 70810 10″ (Infrasonics Infra001)
I met Mr Spatial at the Highpoint Lowlife Xmas bash I played some records at (and indeed at the previous affair at Shunt). The only word for this is minimal. And abstract. Right, the only two words for this are “minimal” and “abstract”. OK? Even the packaging gives little away, and I had to guess at what speed to play this at (33 and a third, in this house. If you want to do a Paul Meme and play everything at +8 then feel free, but not round here sunshine).
“80207″ kicks off with what could be an off key keyboard skank from a classic uk dub tune. But it isn’t, especially when accompanied by a glassy, brittle click track of a riddim. It would be too easy to dismiss this as another Basic Channel lite – I think there is a lot more going on here. The very simple female vocal refrain anchors everything and allows the deceptively simple beats to build up and gain in complexity. Where Subeena uses minimal ingredients to produce a joyful landscape, Spatial is far far colder with his tools. But then, as the good Dr once said, it is cold in Babylon…
“70810″ – “is that weird music or is something knocking?”. Well it’s both really. It’s an orchestra stripped of most of its instruments trying to get in, it’s a stoned cosmonaut trying to reconnect to the mothership. It’s…
http://infrasonics.net/dubs/infra001
[at this point the review was terminated so that we could watch "Special Needs Pets" on More4]
Nasty Jack – Shotta Music (Goldseal CD)
“Raggamuffin Nasty Jack inna de area, me a true grime star…”
Don’t tell the better half, but by my reckoning I have bought 14 grime mixtapes this year. The imminent release of the 4th installments of both Jammer’s “Are You Dumb?” and Trim’s “Soulfood” will surely increase this total (and we’d better not mention the numerous 12″ purchases either…)
It’s rare for me to get sent a Grime Promo CD – and rarer still for it to be any good. But when Nasty Jack’s “Shotta Music” turned up just after we’d put Woofah issue 3 to bed, I had high expectations.
We’re talking pedigree here – learning one’s trade in N.A.S.T.Y. Crew and some infamous lyrical beef with Wiley. Jack’s “My Name Is” 7″ on Adamantium was one of last year’s highlights – proper raggamuffin grime which was cruelly expunged from the grime in the dancehall Blogariddims mix – purely because Paul Meme and I had so much great material… and something had to go.
“Shotta Music” is essentially a UK ragga album – many of the riddims feature sparse drum and overdriven bass, soundsystem style. High-octane war lyrics and party rhymes abound. On “Sandakarn” Nasty Jack gives thanks and praise to Ninjaman, Nicodemus and Super Cat and pays tribute to the 90s JA deejay style. This is followed by Stormin’s ganja-fuelled take on the same riddim – a proper treat for all version excursionists.
I played the “Skyjuice riddim” on RSI Radio 3 and you can hear it on Nasty’s Myspace. I’ve also bigged it up in FACT Magazine’s “Tunes of The Week” – seems like they agree with my assessment cos they’ve put it in at number 2. The tune features Flowdan, Skepta and Teddy Brukshut alongside Nasty Jack and is outrageous – get to know.
“My Name Is” also features on the CD (I’m guessing that the seven inch is now pretty hard to come by) as do long awaited tunes like “Burn You”. Brukshut and Stormin’ bust out their best rhymes. There is some great interplay between rockstone gruffness and the occasional sprinkling of melody. Oh yeah and dubstep fans will love the vocalling of Zombie’s “One Spliff A Day” relick.
Apparently the forums have featured some rumblings of discontent about Kiss FM DJ Logan Sama hosting the album, but his vocal introductions are unobtrusive and I find them pretty entertaining myself. Oh yeah, apparently some versions of the CD release include a bonus CD of instrumentals, so watch out for that.
A lot of JA music seems to be in the midst of an uninspiring phase for me recently, so it’s been a relief that so many exceptional UK (and outernational) releases are filling that vacuum this year. Do yourself a favour and check this one out.
BugBugBug
You’ve all been caning the “London Zoo” album, right? One of the releases of 2008 in this house, for sure. Full review from me in the soon come Woofah 3.
Interesting feature in the new downloadable Xlr8r mag with Kevin, Warrior Queen and Flowdan.
Ganja/Flying single now out on mp3 and 12″ via Ninjatune.
Ganja is on the London Zoo album and is essentially a sonically fucked up reversion of the Weedman tune on Roll Deep’s “Rules and Regulations” mixtape. Didn’t it also come out alongside The Bug’s collab with Tippa Irie, the excellent “Angry”? Maybe that was strickly digikal release though.
Anyway, Ricky Ranking’s “Flying” is worth the price of admission alone – proper pared down minimalism with that edgy intensity no other fucker can carry off. Which brings us to…
King Midas Sound 12″ on Hyperdub. Yeaaaaaah.
Not managed to get this yet, which is pretty stupid considering how long I have been gagging to get hold of some of the KMS stuff.
And apparently The Bug will be supporting Nine Inch Nails during some of their US tour. Heh heh. Great news, but I do wonder how that will go down with some of the more, ah, metallic elements of the NIN fanbase…
England, My England
The unintentionally hilarious comment below from a neo-nazi has reminded me that I haven’t mentioned this essential new release from Soul Jazz.
If you’ve been following this blog and the mixes I’ve done for the last few years, you’ll know that I think the history of UK MC culture has been massively under-exposed – this is fantastic start to redressing that error.
The album is compiled by the comrades over at The Heatwave and is based on their excellent blogariddims mix.
Full review to follow in the next issue of The Wire, but do yourself and favour and grab your copy now – you won’t regret it. If there is a release more important than this in 2008 I will be very surprised.
The album also functions as a beautiful antidote to the socially constructed concept of “whiteness” that my correspondent seems so keen on.
The Bug ft. Warrior Queen and Flowdan – Poison Dart (Ninja Tune)
Yeahhhhhhhh. Fanbwoy time again! Ha ha. He just keeps getting better and better I think. Skeng seemed almost impossible to top, but this latest release does actually manage that by broadening out a bit rather than going for the sledgehammer blow. Two twelve inches this time which lets Kevin Martin exercise his collaborative inclinations to the max. “Networking” has a horrible image of false grins and business cards offered in sweaty palms, but actually creating networks like those around the “Ambient” comps for Virgin, and his work with GOD, and of course at BASH, is “scenius” in action. Drawing dissidents together to plot and form new cells of resistance…
Warrior Queen is her usual uncompromising self and any hyperbole I write here is kind of redundant in the face of the video above – how cool is it to see a label getting properly behind this stuff and giving it a bit of audio/visual push?
The Skream remix ramps up the dubstep disco wobble bizness and comes across a lot cleaner than the original. I’m sure it sounds great over a big system mixed in with something else which has a slightly different wobble, but it kind of defeats the object of a Bug record for home listening in my book. Something for the young people, ha ha!
My promo doesn’t have the full Flowdan vocal mix on it, dammit, but there are snippets from it in DJ Baku’s megamix and they sound well up to Flo’s usual level of rapid fire malevolence: “Would it be wise to mess with the big money sound? … No I don’t think so. SHUT UP!” Baku seriously disrupts the juggernaut flow with his(?) turntablism – Warrior Queen and Flo come in and out of the mix in a ghostly duet. The slowly increasing sense of dread becomes more fragmented – you don’t know where the danger is coming from.
I’m also gaging to hear the South Rakkas Crew remix – the people who brought you the Bionic Ras and Red Alert acieeed dancehall riddims, talk about spoilt for choice…
Digital bundle release (including Skeng!) to follow…
out to all pasta rastamen
If you really think that “all JA seems to produce these days is drum-machine driven electro drivel with lyrics about busta-this and bling-that and batty-bwoy the other.” then you definitely need to check this one out:
Pure consciousness and niceness, 21st Century JA roots and reality reggae in the traditional style. Five highlights include:
Alborosie – “Rastafari Anthem” – this is a guy who hasn’t put a foot wrong in 2007 and you can tell 2008 is going to be his year. Seriously. You could do worse than to go out and buy any 7″ you can find with his name on…
Lutan Fyah – “Save The Juvenile” – excellent upbeat tune in which Lutan demands that the badmen stop their badness and look after the next generation.
Nesbeth – “Board House” – the sad story of a rubbish day in which Nes’ house burns down as during gang war crossfire and his woman walks out on him. Is it miserable? Is it bollocks – proper grimacing through the pain before heading off to get shitfaced stuff.
Taurus Riley – “Pretect Your Neck” – proper old school skanking bizness, presumably inspired by Wu-Tang but you wouldn’t know it.
Mr Easy – “Strangest Thing” – Easy gets pulled over by the police for his weed, and just to rub it in, Mykal Rose is singing about his “stalk of sensimiella” in the background.
There are 18 tracks on the CD so everyone will have their own favourites (and my will change tomorrow). Some lightweight girl tunes included, but basically it’s a wicked roundup of 2007 seven inch releases (and probably some that never came out).
Plus it’s a double set – you get a DVD thrown in with some nice promos (Lutan and Nesbeth especially) and a short Alborosie documentary.
available on CD (£8.99) and mp3 (55p per track) direct from Greensleeves. Check the link for soundsamples as well.
Or add it to yer Amazon wish list for xmas, innit.
My top ten for 2007 will follow in another place shortly.
RSI RADIO VOLUME TWO
Uncarved presents one hour and 23 minutes of music and commentary for your downloading pleasure!
Without giving too much away, this installment of RSI Radio is more eclectic than the debut. Fans of the first edition will be relieved to hear that I am less mumbly this time.
Comments welcome! People suffering from slow ‘net connections should get in touch and ask to be sent a CDR of the show.
Razor X Productions – Killing Sound
Razor X Productions – Killing Sound (Rephlex double LP)
“Made in Babylon”
Razor X was the label for the original collaborations between Kevin Martin (The Bug) and the Rootsman (UK veteran reggae producer and ex-member of Iration Steppas sound – see also the post below). These productions leaked out on very limited 7″ over a few years and laid down the blueprint for The Bug’s subsequent trajectory…
This compilation has been a long time coming, and has been much anticipated by the thousands of people who bought Pressure. Killing Sound is a an all-out assault compared to Pressure’s rollercoaster ride of peaks and troughs.
The first track is “Killer”, the original Razor X opening barrage, but with Warrior Queen on vocal duties instead of the unavailable He-Man. Can Warrior overtake the original vocal? Amazingly, she can – with some serious attitude and menace. “Killer – sleep with a BIGGER machine under mi pillow…”.[...] “Gun don’t play when it come to intruder” completely flips the original meaning of the tune – dancehall machismo becomes female self-defence?
Many of the tracks on the album come complete with Versions and it sounds to these ears like the Killer riddim has been instensified for 06. In fact it’s been butchered, but I mean that in a good way – hacked about by an expert knifeman, with what little fat remaining on the carcass removed with surgical precision.
2nd track is “WWW”. That “Mexican is a badman” is probably beyond dispute. Has it really been five years since I first heard this? It still sounds urgent – perhaps previously it sounded like the future, whereas in 2006 it sounds like RIGHT NOW. Admirable brutality. The version reduces the vocal to psychopathic monosylablic utterances in a wasteland of jackhammer raggage.
Mexican steps up again for “(Bun a fire pon the) Child Molestor”, a new tune which is not for the fainthearted. The version spaces the tune out into vigilantism through a skunked out haze. An outstandingly effective combination of violent vocals over a relatively (!) laid back riddim.
Cutty Ranks might be trouble in the studio, but “Boom Boom Claat” sounds like a war just started, and his delivery requires no apologies.
“[...]It seems like them haunted
Cross mi path and me kill them to rahtid
It seems like them fi get me wanted
Leave them family broken hearted”
If Paul was here, he’d was say it sounded like SWANS. Or course it doesn’t sound like SWANS at all, except in his head, but there is a shared minimal physicality which is wickedly energising.
Daddy Freddy’s “Imitator” concerns people who rip off his style. The onetime “fastest MC in the world” has some innovative solutions to copyright disputes. They involve your face.
El Feco hails from Philly (but was born in JA). His “Yard Man” features some great interplay between breakcore amens and moments of quiet which are almost acapella. I can see this going down a storm at more discerning dancefloors like Sick & Twisted.
“Problem (Version)” doesn’t come with a vocal counterpart. Something to look forward to? This seems to be Razor X at its slinkiest.
Killing Sound: Another essential for your sonic armoury.
Available in good record shops everywhere. (LP = 15 tracks, CD = 20, including more versions. But you want the vinyl, don’t you?)
