The Drum & Bass Arena website chooses wisely on this release, pairing the godfather dons of the genre on this double CD. Fabio lays down his singularly funky mix of rolling beats and the world’s most buttery basslines. Influences from lover’s rock (Calibre) to cinematic soundscapes (High Contrast) butt up against Breakage’s natty dubwise movements, breathing new life into liquid funk. Meanwhile, Grooverider-the Mr. Hyde of this duo-beats you into submission by unleashing monster tuneage from Dillinja, Hive, and DJ Fresh, among others. Rough and smooth.
Mikrob & Bungle Tempestade
Brazilian bad boys Mikrob & Bungle treat us with bongo-beating “Tempestade,” which flows with waves of uber-low sub bass and interjections of saucy guitar licks to “LK”-like effect. “Sunday” pushes the vibe into trance and bass territory with proper choppage on the amens after the second drop. Watch out Marky & XRS!
Heiruspecs A Tiger Dancing
The few lucky enough to have copped Atmosphere’s limited Sad Clown Bad Dub 3 have already been introduced to Minnesota’s finest hip-hop band, Heiruspecs. A Tiger Dancing allows them to step away from their backing duties, putting MCs Felix and Muad’Dib front and center. Their musicianship is predictably tight, with pleasing jazzy overtones and sparse organic beats, but Heiruspecs ain’t the next Roots. A Tiger Dancing positions the group as a good live act-especially for the college crowd-but the album lacks the zest necessary to take it to the next level.
Knifehandchop How I Left You
Everyone’s gone concept album these days-even the hyperactive hardcore gabba/ragga kids. On How I Left You, Knifehandchop tells a breakup story through music. We start happily with “Goin’ Back to Scarborough,” which races melodies around and past a chunk of Dr. Dre. But by a few tracks in, even the sweetest piano lines start to become overwhelmed by noise, as on “Girlfriend.” The BPMs rarely let up, and as the hour grows later they signify more menace than excitement. Finally, Knifey finds solace where all the newly dumped seem to find it-dancing until dawn to “94 Hardcore.”
Various Artists Riddim Driven: Check It Back
Ricky “Mad Man” Myrie takes a successful stab at a rave-style riddim with Check It Back. He starts with sweet synthesizer chords, high-pitched tinklings and beguiling fake string swoops, then cuts in a strong, catchy bassline and funny, cartoon-like bubble noises. Where Lenky Marsden would have taken this rhythm into darker dub terrain (see Time Travel), Myrie keeps it major key and sunny so the rhythm lends itself equally well to love chat or battle talk. The lineup of vocalists is stellar, with Bounty Killer’s take (the title track) turning it into an addictive, swinging sing-along.
Beans Shock City Maverick
Tomorrow was right now yesterday, so this time around Beans gets relativistic and checks out the fourth dimension. The former Anti-Popist packs his rocket full of vintage drum machines and thrashing, insistent basslines, loads up bags full of shredded lyric notebooks for fuel, and sets course for Planet Rock. Though Beans tweaks the knobs hard on the occasional mind-bending instrumental, for the most part Shock City Maverick sticks to a harder, leaner sound, with the spaces between the clicks and clacks filled by verse. While his rhyme schemes and references stay as complex as ever, Beans has learned that skeletal, uptempo bodyrockers fit his style best, and tracks like “I’ll Melt You” burn like lasers. Mark Pritchard beams in to lend a futuristic battle-hymn stomp to “Diamond Halo Grenade,” but this is Beans’ universe now-we just live in it.
The Roots The Tipping Point
Born from extensive jam sessions, The Tipping Point finds The Roots becoming drummer/liner note maestro Questlove’s band. Opening with the languid Sly Stone tribute “Star,” the band sands most of the edges off a coherent album that slides by perhaps a touch too easily. Scott Storch lends two lean, sparkling pop productions that contrast nicely with Quest’s thicker and dirtier sounds (like dub-rock nugget “Guns Are Drawn”). Vocalist Black Thought sounds a bit disinterested outside of two ferocious back-to-back old-school jams, but as the photo of a young Malcolm on the cover implies, The Roots are still just getting started.
Matthew Shipp Harmony And Abyss
Between collaborations with artists like El-P, pianist Matthew Shipp has returned to an ongoing project: a set of small-group jazz records fully integrating bits of hip-hop and electronics. Shipp’s working group has ripped through several records in this vein, and Harmony and Abyss showcases the near-telepathic rapport they have earned. The improv-oriented pieces fly by at high tempos, with Shipp’s percussive piano at the center of the storm. But the group works so well that Shipp hardly appears on open, electronic-oriented pieces such as “String Theory,” where twisted textures and noises take center stage.
Umek Trust No One
Umek reigns as the world leader in innovative and experimental dancefloor techno, and this stellar release confirms his well-deserved title. Shuffled kicks, throbbing toms and LFO-modulated square waves shift in time between 4/4 and 3/4-a confusing yet congenial method of manipulation. Plus, this master was cut so hot that it could possibly play through a line-level preamp.
Headroom Schizoaffective
After an extensive two-year sabbatical, the Headroom boys are back to obliterate bass bins and ignite ritual dance clubs across the globe. Heavy saturation of hypnotic sixteenth-note synth loops atop South America-inspired percussive rhythms can only lead to an ass-rumbling bass line. Brazil meets Chicago.
