Under The Influence

What a surprise, another great album from Berlin. Apparently these guys are one of Thom York's favourite. He sings a track with them on this one.

Hyper Hyper is a shout out to the great electro artists of the past (and you can hear the influence in there). It even sounds like ... oh damn, what's it called? That classic dance track I can't remember right now but I always get confused with 3 Drives.

There are lots of other interesting collaborations going on here. Maximo Park and Apparat make an appearance, as do Puppetmastaz, Berlin's famous animal puppet faced hip-hop group. I'm not sure who Siriusmo is, but the track they help out on, Déboutonner, is definitely a standout piece.

Feel in love with one of her songs, When I See Love, on the boat; it was the only one I had with me at the time. As I recall it was a random download from a site much like this one. Illegal, I guess but hell, I would never have purchased her album otherwise, no?

Anyway, I was blown away. RnB is a style of music that gets little attention from me. I get so sick of the thousands of songs/artists singing about love, pretending they've got soul when I can clearly hear that the music has none. This couldn't be more different. And this album wasn't even even meant to be released!

This album was meant to be a demo for music folks that blossomed into a full work. She's just completed her next effort, PleasureVille, which I can't wait to hear (it's not on sale yet but the samples on her myspace profile are sounding great). In the meantime I can make do with the current album. Some of the tracks, like Silent Symphony, are very jazzy while others have a great hip-hop twist to them - check out All My Mistakes.

If your clicking finger is reaching to purchase the new Jill Scott anytime soon, stop and think first - By Day, By Night is actually the album you want to hear. Trust me this girl's going to be huge.

You get a wonderful cover of George McCrae's I Get Lifted. Jesus, that's enough really, isn't it? Well, it's even better than that. Sweet funk licks, great breaks and real horns. Real horns!

Do Your Thing must be a hidden tribute to 90% Of Me Is You (Gwen McCrae). Oh my, look at that - Gwen and George McCrae used to be married. Who'd have thought (I'm not being sarcastic, this connection only just occurred to me).

Anyways, I know some folks that are going to be very very excited when I show this to them.

When I first moved to the UK I thought I'd get to see various DJs blow me away with what they could do live. Imagine my disappointment on discovering (on the 2nd day in town) that for most of them it's a façade. DJs that were meant to be the greatest mash-up artists in the world turned out to be little more than slightly experimental electro/breaks DJs.

Now, I'd heard The Nextmen's work on various Grand Central offerings over the years but it was a chance meeting in 2005 that refuelled my interest in what they were doing. I have no idea how many Nextmen gigs I've been to since then. They tend to lean more towards soul/funk/hip-hop/reggae/dnb but really nothing is off limits - tunes to make you dance seems to be the only criteria. This album, or any of their mixtapes for that matter, are great showcases of what they do live.

I love the Nextmen. Hands down the most fun live DJs I've ever seen.

This one is getting the prize for most enjoyed album I've given to other people recently. There are a handful of people that I've shown this one to that seem to have fallen in love with it. I haven't listened to it enough to get to this stage but I can see why. I put it down to the super slick dubbed out hip hop production work.

There's plenty of variation in pace from soul vibes in Talk to Me to head nodding use of Beastie Boys samples in Got To Rock. The two city named tracks, Manchester and Milwaukee feel like abstract Shadow/RJD2 productions.

There are guest vocalists all over the place here (a different one on each track). We even get treated to the current favourite in my house of residence, Skinny Man.

If you're off to go chill out in the sunshine anytime soon put this one on the top of the playlist. You really won't regret it.

In case you missed her last time round M.I.A. is a UK treasure to be cherished. When the vast majority of the UK music scene was flooded with similar sounding indie bands (similar sounding everything for that matter - and not much has changed since) she released Arular to dropped jaws. It was responsible for introducing Baile Funk to most of the western world (thanks to the work of Diplo at the helm) - an all new addictive dance vibe.

Kala builds on her debut sound without becoming an imitation. Although we still get to enjoy her mighty 808 sine waves the beats feel somehow more advanced. There's a bit of Bollywood influence thrown in the mix this time which works really well with her sound. There's a lot more influence going on all over the place for that matter including more old jungle/rave sounds.

20 Dollar may very well rip your sound-system apart - it starts off sounding like it's going to be a cover of Blue Monday but quickly deviates.

There's less politically loaded commentary on here - probably for the best if she wants to get the Mercury Prize for this one.

Did you look at the tags? Hip-hop! I know. Not really what I expected, though actually I was prepared to expect the unexpected with Fog... anyway, it's a scratchfest in here.

I think this is Fog's first album. The basic makeup is scratch driven beats (by which I mean often the entire drum line is made some individual scratch samples) with acoustic guitar providing much of the main rhythm. The majority of the solos are a short sample such as a single horn note cut to oblivion and reconstructed to surprisingly melodic effect.

I can see why a fan of the earlier stuff might not be particularly impressed with their last offering. Really original stuff on offer here.

It's funny, it's gotten to the point that when I drag an album into my itunes I really have absolutely no idea what it's going to sound like. I mean, I just purchased this a couple of days ago - clearly it was a considered action - but I have no idea in what context. That's not to say I'm disappointed - I'm not.

The genre stamped on this one is new-age - so far off target with that bit of tagging. Funk/soul/hip-hop spring to mind. Makes me think of Michael Franti/Spearhead. The title track has a Sly Stone inspired pre chorus build up going on.

Basically it's all about the funky breaks.

Gotta love this. Wicked (excuse the pun) beats, politically infused lyrics and buckets of attitude. That is, after all, what hip-hop is all about.

It shows that it was predominantly written during the L.A. Riots - check out We Had To Tear This Shit Up for an example of the police hate that that was going on at the time. Read up on Rodney King if you want to understand why. It Was A Good Day sounds just like a 2Pac track - more positive but only to hit home the message that things are pretty screwed in the ghetto.

Great (funky) samples - damn, what is that bassline in Dirty Mack? I hate it when I know I know a track but just can't think of what it is.

History and hip-hop lessons abound.

I'm having a bit of a tidy up day today. Archiving off some of the music that's collected on my computer over the last few months. It's hard work parting with one's music, even just temporarily. Anyhoo, in doing so I'm listening to a bunch of stuff that I haven't listened to in a while - Atmosphere included.

Not sure who did the beats on this one but they're great. Super slick. The rhodes/guitar hook on Guns and Cigarettes is inspiring.

The Woman with the Tattooed Hands is a must hear - very touching piece of work. Other essentials to check out include Between the Lines, Don't Ever Fucking Question That and Like Today.

It's poetry man.