Roots Manuva: Rolling Deep

Thank Dizzee and The Streets–now that the pressure’s off Roots Manuva to save the soul of UK hip-hop, he’s gone Awfully Deep and come back with his strongest album yet. Fresh off a UK tour with M.I.A. and his eight-piece band The Manuvadelics, the man born Rodney Smith talked with XLR8R after lights out at his Waterloo, London studio.

XLR8R: Where are you calling me from?

Rodney Smith: This is the place, my office, called Banana Towers. This is where I coordinate the madness. It’s bananas, man!

Sounds kinda quiet, actually.

Yeah, all the monkeys have gone home.

So I just read that you stopped smoking herb.

I’m not getting up in the morning and smoking first thing, but I still take a puff. I still celebrate now and again but not as crazy as I used to.

Have you replaced the weed with something else? Exercise? Meditation?

Probably way too much alcohol! [Laughs]

The new album gets kinda dark and supernatural at times. You been getting into horror films like The Ring or something?

[Laughs] There’s this comedy program here called League of Gentlemen–you ever heard of it? Serious humor, man; on the verge of horror. It disturbs me, actually, and I’ve been quite inspired by what they do. I remember seeing one sketch about a butcher’s shop that everybody went to to get human meat, and they sing a little song about it called “Special Meat.” And it’s just so crazy that we’re just hoping in our heads about the whole fact that we don’t know what we’re eating. There’s been loads of scandals over the years. I remember one scandal in Brixton, they were selling donkey meat, and a few kabob shops that had been done for selling dog meat and pigeon meat. And that sense of humor just grips me.

Tell me about the lyric “I’m the hippie/I’m the gangsta/I’m the contradiction” [from “Thinking”]. Sounds like the motto of San Francisco’s Haight Street to me.

Yeah, I been there! I love to mess around with hippie ideology, but at the same time, if you do me wrong I’m quick to speak of the other side. In general I’m a people person, but as soon as the promoter doesn’t pay me I’m on the phone to the boys, like, ‘Come, come! We gonna deal with this fool!’ I wanna celebrate the peace, but at the same time I gotta eat.

How is it touring with a live band?

We’re kinda morphing the whole bashment mix with a little bit of rave mixed with a bit of rock mixed with a bit of P-Funk. Most people don’t hear it–most people just say, ‘Oh, it’s not hip-hop. It’s a dub reggae sound, that’s what it is.’ They can’t hear all the little subtleties. It’s all of the above. It just turns the music inside out, opens it out to connection to the Mothership.

George Clinton’s getting old, but he’s still talking some way out, cosmic shit.

And he’s got a mad hairstyle, too! And he’s still doing what he does. We try to emulate that stuff. Whatever they were smoking or taking, we’re trying to do it without taking the substances.

Think you’ll last as long as them?

If you can program your tours with some kind of civility, you can definitely keep it going. It’s not necessary to do, like, 100 dates back to back; you space it out a little bit. And do smaller things. Play early! Going on at midnight and finishing at four is a no-no at 60. [Laughs]

Yeah, now you’ve got a kid to handle.

He’s gonna be two on Saturday. He’s talking and walking, and I’m sure he’ll be rapping or making beats pretty soon. He’s got his little keyboards, and he’s into his music. It’s amazing–to me he’s a hip-hop baby, ‘cause hip-hop pays his bills.

What else you got going on?

Too many things. Trying this Banana Clan thing, to run this label thing, and having no idea how to run a label but just loving music and the whole culture of it. It’s Banana Clan. It’s not a label–it’s a collective, it’s an imprint, with some totally new and unknown people. There’s a guy called Ricky Rankin who dates back to the late late ’70s sound system MCs, and another guy called Jimmy Screech, who is like an amalgamation of, say, someone like Shaggy but with the lyrical dexterity of a Mos Def kinda all rolled into one. I’m gonna put together a little mixtape for the second quarter that should be all ready for Coachella. And I’ll leave ‘em all over America, so you’ll definitely hear from me.

Eric H The Lights

After getting battered on the UK pirates, Sunship‘s “Almighty Father” featuring Warrior Queen has finally been released. Chunky‘s speed garage homage and Solid Groove‘s glitch-ridden Underground Souljah Mix join the grimy original version. The vocals, courtesy of Warrior Queen, are the song‘s true strength and each mix highlights her lyrics admirably. A great follow-up to “Bredrin” and “Bounce To Dis.”

Kano Typical Me Ft. Ghetto

Thought to have the best chance of any UK MC (barring Dizee) of breaking the North American market, Kano‘s smooth flow is intelligible yet still retains that foreign je ne sais quoi. While “Typical Me” featuring Ghetto is solid, it ultimately fails to drop jaws despite (or perhaps because of) shocking use of rock guitars. “Mic Fight,” on the other hand, properly showcases Kano‘s knack for the vernacular with better sparring partners in Wiley and Demon.

Sunship Almighty Father Feat. Warrior Queen

After getting battered on the UK pirates, Sunship‘s “Almighty Father” featuring Warrior Queen has finally been released. Chunky‘s speed garage homage and Solid Groove‘s glitch-ridden Underground Souljah Mix join the grimy original version. The vocals, courtesy of Warrior Queen, are the song‘s true strength and each mix highlights her lyrics admirably. A great follow-up to “Bredrin” and “Bounce To Dis.”

Various Artists Shadowmath: Vol. 2

The goal of the Fateless Flows Collective is to “incorporate differing genres in a way that generates natural symmetry and poetic flow.” Unfortunately, that‘s not what happens on this comp. The relentless hammer of the album‘s more frenetic tracks (The Luxury Tax‘s “Sex Machine”) is too grating and schizophrenic alongside the atmospheric soundscapes that precede it (Appogee‘s “Coral”) and the naturalist compositions (Appogee‘s “KDDR mov. 2”) that follow. But the skating sounds, dreamy effects and organic drums of the comp‘s closing track, Surface 10 Activity‘s “Only A World” captures the collective‘s aim.

French Toast In a Cave

It‘s in there-the driving, dissonant and dark, D.C.-style melodies that defined the bands that French Toast‘s James Canty and Jerry Busher used to play in (Nation of Ulysses and Fugazi, respectively). But their pedigrees aren‘t the only thing that make this record good. Canty and Busher switch-hit on vocals, drums, keys, and bass and the result is a collection of tight tracks formed from the comfort and improvisation of their basement “cave” sessions. Holding this LP together are calculated song structures that shift between the frenetic (“Seen Me”) and the pensive (“Off Center”), displaying this duo‘s casual confidence.

Martin Peter Enough Of This?!

When a metal/hardcore fan goes electronic you know it‘s gotta be interesting, if not entertaining. Martin Peter‘s use of hardcore‘s amped-up tempo and quick timing shifts is interesting, but it‘s the added elements that makes it entertaining. Peter transforms his synthesizers into a reverbed-out lead guitar, swirling its loops with a disco sheen to counter his own growling vocals and whipping up some darkwave melodies to match guest vocalist Felix Neuenhoff‘s classic croon. Peter‘s attempt to combine dance and hardcore is fairly compelling…and flashes a little flair at the same time.

Vince Watson Sublimina

Detroit techno‘s detractors will argue that the music is stuck in a time warp circa 1995, and to some extent they‘re right. After all, the sound is still reliant on the trademark components of jerky funk patterns, sweeping synths, and lush strings. However, the new wave of Motor City-inspired European producers, of which Vince Watson is one, impress with their interpretation and advanced production techniques. While most of the haunting, downtempo material on Sublimina wouldn‘t be out of place on Carl Craig‘s 1995 long player Landcruising, Watson‘s expert craftsmanship and super-rich use of sounds makes it as technologically advanced as the sleek new One-Series BMW.

Various Artists Kanzleramt Volume 5

Unlike many German labels, Kanzleramt hasn‘t suddenly gone the electro-house or minimal route. On this fifth compilation, mixed by Heiko Laux, the label‘s back catalog shows that it‘s still fusing dynamic techno structures with a deep sense of musicality. The first half of the CD embraces warm textures, eerie sounds, and jazzy inflections from Ian O‘Brien and Offshore Funk. Fabrice Lig and Querida‘s percussive contributions and HLX‘s 303-led “Granulate Three” up the tempo and mark the changeover to visceral techno as the mix climaxes to the sound of Diego and Ray Kajioka‘s firing, grinding contributions.

Lina The Inner Beauty Movement

The comely Lina is the latest R&B ingénue to step into the spotlight. While she can‘t turn a phrase like Jill Scott or Erykah Badu, she makes groovy party jams infused with hip-hop flavors. With her Badu-like, smoky singing style, Lina‘s not big on vocal histrionics, preferring to keep it relatively simple. There are solid tunes on the album, but even Lina can be mired in the obligatory hokey duet-namely “Around The World,” which sees her dueling with Anthony Hamilton. That gripe aside, The Inner Beauty Movement is a decent debut.

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