The sun is shining so what better way then to put some tunes up to celebrate.
Ash- Kung Fu (from the album '1977')
The Pixies- debaser
Dinosaur Jr.- feel the pain
Morrissey- sing your life
Lo fidelity allstars- Battleflag
Thursday, 28 June 2007
Wednesday, 27 June 2007
Dizzee Rascal- maths and english
Dizzee Rascal- Maths and English (XL records)
It is always with a healthy dose of fear that i stick a new album on from an artist i love, one of my worst musical moment i endured was the time i waited outside Ourprice to buy 'Be here now' By Oasis, got home and listened to a band i loved produced coked up, overblown tosh. So i put on Maths and English by Dizzee Rascal with dread.
Dizzee (Dylan to his mother) shot to fame winning the mercury music prize for his debut album 'Boy in da corner' and many saw him as the shining star of 'grime' which was a potent mix of garage, jungle with hip hop. His debut was a joy, combining his waspish, hypertensive delivery with a not shortage of cluster bomb beats and rib rattling baselines. His second album, Showtime took this approach further with even more bile spat due to his stabbing in the process of making the album. Showtime hinted at some of Dizzee's ability to flower out of the restrictive cocoon of 'grime' and into a more expansive sounding hip hop. Maths and English delivers that expansion with aplomb and it genuinely appears that Britain has a hip hop album that can hold its own with America and play ball at their own game.
Kano hinted at this approach on his album 'Home sweet home' which took a slower beat than your usual grime fayre and with a slower delivery. Dizzee Rascal takes this further though. The album begins with a message that it is time to look outside the area he grew up in, which sets the tone for the album.
Track 2, 'Pussyole' has a beat that owes as much to the big beat sound of the KLF than 'grime' and is a catchy, thumping signal that Dizzee is splendidly moving on to a new chapter. The beat use rave-esque samples that are welded to a more traditionally hip hop beat and has to be in the top three songs he has produced thus far. 'Sirens' the first single off the album shows that Dizzee comes good on his boast that he has always listened to heavy rock bands with the guitars driving his excitable delivery with metal-esque intensity.
Here is the track 'Bubbles'
It is always with a healthy dose of fear that i stick a new album on from an artist i love, one of my worst musical moment i endured was the time i waited outside Ourprice to buy 'Be here now' By Oasis, got home and listened to a band i loved produced coked up, overblown tosh. So i put on Maths and English by Dizzee Rascal with dread.
Dizzee (Dylan to his mother) shot to fame winning the mercury music prize for his debut album 'Boy in da corner' and many saw him as the shining star of 'grime' which was a potent mix of garage, jungle with hip hop. His debut was a joy, combining his waspish, hypertensive delivery with a not shortage of cluster bomb beats and rib rattling baselines. His second album, Showtime took this approach further with even more bile spat due to his stabbing in the process of making the album. Showtime hinted at some of Dizzee's ability to flower out of the restrictive cocoon of 'grime' and into a more expansive sounding hip hop. Maths and English delivers that expansion with aplomb and it genuinely appears that Britain has a hip hop album that can hold its own with America and play ball at their own game.
Kano hinted at this approach on his album 'Home sweet home' which took a slower beat than your usual grime fayre and with a slower delivery. Dizzee Rascal takes this further though. The album begins with a message that it is time to look outside the area he grew up in, which sets the tone for the album.
Track 2, 'Pussyole' has a beat that owes as much to the big beat sound of the KLF than 'grime' and is a catchy, thumping signal that Dizzee is splendidly moving on to a new chapter. The beat use rave-esque samples that are welded to a more traditionally hip hop beat and has to be in the top three songs he has produced thus far. 'Sirens' the first single off the album shows that Dizzee comes good on his boast that he has always listened to heavy rock bands with the guitars driving his excitable delivery with metal-esque intensity.
'Where's da G's' is dizzee's first real attempt at a straight up hip hop song, complete with guest vocal from UGK it is bold statement of Dizzee's attempt to get noticed more in America. The beat is still sparse and menacing, but what it lacks in scattergun intensity it excels by being layered with melody at the right time, the chorus melody line sounds like the last level of the computer game 'Shinobi' so kudos for that!
Moving on from the silly posturing of 'Suk my Dik', 'Da feelin' is a nod to the summer drum and bass sound of Shy FX and, whisper it, Dizzee seems to be having a good time and adds another string to the bow of the rascal. The second best track on the album is 'Bubbles' which has a futuristic space age beat that sounds like Kool Keith with Dr Dre on production. Again the cheeky use of british rave samples and 'big beat' effects show that although it nods to America in pace Dizzee is still amazingly British through and through. 'Hardback' is a slightly Dizzee by-numbers song, although the lyrics essentially giving advice to new artists is well delivered.
'Temptation' is a collaboration with Artic Monkey's singer Alex Turner having a dub reggae vibe that is slightly let down by the production that makes it sound like the Turner sung chorus comes out of nowhere and that the song was sent back and for as opposed to a real collaboration. 'Wanna Be' is a jolly with Lilly Allen (or 'dil 'n' lil) coupled with a chorus that uses 'Do you want to be a boxer' from Bugsy Malone and the immortal line 'your mum buys you bling'. Which leaves 'You cant tell me nuttin' which is a song Dizzee Rascal should have left on the studio cutting floor.
Maths and English is the realisation of one of Britain's best musical talents, a sign of a angry boy turning into assured young man. More important Dizzee Rascal has escaped the limited shackles of Grime and joined Skinnyman and Roots Manuva in making a top quality UK hip hop album that holds it own against any new American hip hop album.
8.5/10
Here is the track 'Bubbles'
This blog.
This blog will be dedicated to reviewing music and music themed posts. From the latest releases, diamond in the rough gems and underrated classics this blog will attempt to take a look at all manner of music with a welsh twist.
If anyone has any suggestions of albums i can review then please get in touch.
To start lets have a quiz-
Whose album is entitled 'Some of my best friends are Dj's'?
If anyone has any suggestions of albums i can review then please get in touch.
To start lets have a quiz-
Whose album is entitled 'Some of my best friends are Dj's'?
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