Nang/Bang

Nang [A] Side:
45 minutes of random freestyle grime MCing from pirate radio station LUSH 107.6.

London pirate radio feels like the bleeding edge of modern music from the left side of the Atlantic and I was so eager to hear some honest-to-god grime freestyle that my evening commute felt like it was stretching into eternity. It was a heady moment when I was finally able to bask in the analogue glory of looped beats, slang rhymes and occasional static. After about the first half-hour, though, the new sheen had worn away somewhat and I was left with a disparate number of stale loops, intelligible vernacular, and mumbled phrases. After repeated listens, the highlights became the vocals of an unnamed female MC, who spontaneously broke into gospel-type house-diva vocals at the end of random phrases, and the screw-ups and miss-cues of the remaining non-descript male majority. Not only did both add a bit of spice, but also contrasted the varying levels of talent I imagine are endemic to pirate radio; soulful, poignant vocals versus “Oh gosh!”, “Listen!”, and station identification MCs seem to use when they fuck up.

Bang [B] Side
High Tide – James’ Last (Time To Swing)
Beckett & Taylor – More Lies
Dadableep – Ill Spec
Inaqui Marin – Ultrabitch
Funk D’Void & Phil Kieran – Black Worm
Dave McCullen – B*tch
Audion – Just Fucking
The Chemical Brothers – Get Yourself High (Switch’s Rely On Rub)
Switch – Bounce To This
Depeche Mode – Precious (Misc Mix).”

Nicely rounded trip through experimental electronics, techno, electro-house, and back again. A garden of distorted beats, the mix is almost totally devoid of any unprocessed timbres. Everything sounds harsh, angular, and overdriven, just the way an modern techno mix should. High points are Dave McCullen’s electro-house groover B*tch and the progressive Depeche Mode remix that wraps it all up. The rest of the tracks have been artfully chosen to bridge the gaps between the experimental opener, B*tch, and Precious. The whole thing hangs together very nicely, despite some rough mixing through the middle. All in all, the kind of solid underground selection I would expect from a London-based Dissensian.