the rollin with the nines s/t has some ok stuff, i like that akala & ms dynamite one. even if the film itself is i suspect very very tiresome it would be cool for brit urban world to bring more interest-inviting soundtracks out to intro ppl to new/old mcs, not unlike rap did with regularity in the 90s, often having a fwd-thinking and no doubt fabulously tokenistic regional exposure angle which didnt really happen on straight compilations at the time. i dont think i loved any artist albums in 96-97 as much as i loved the sunset park and high school high s/ts.

anyway more interestingly heartless crew dedicated their whole show to rollin with the nines on sunday, brought kano in to spit etc. so i switched on a little way thru to hear ras kwame having a blazing row with some guy involved with the film!? (didnt hear who the guy was - can anyone tell me?) i think ras said the movie wasnt positive enough or something and this guy was like

'do u play drums? do u play guitar?'

'no'

'well why are you here then??'

'heartless crew invited me'

IT DIDNT MAKE ANY SENSE especially cos ras could have legitimately said, 'I'M M-DUBS MOTHERFUCKER i did the era defining rmx of "bump & grind"!!!', except he didnt. the show has not been archived by the bbc, OOOH CENSORSHIP.

dexplicit ft lsg - handle this

i love dexplicit. even when totally misfiring (like on the offish rmx of "oh i think they like me" what was up with that eh??) he has a principled soundworld which will force you to vote YES/NO i love/hate dexplicit and all he stands for. his thing is sort of dancehall dude's ability to maximize tiny slivers of melodic activity x'd with ukg dude's exploratory drum programming mania, pottering fruitfully in grey areas between grime and 4x4. often trying to test how physical and rushy you can make a beat while remaining divorced from house & breakbeat, taken to a extreme on last year's "blazer" off the real hench ep - who would have thought you could bust aussie d+b levels of intensity on a less annoying bpm? "handle this" is less dexplosive but it has an attractively light rnb vocal and snakey synths and a heavy bassline for the chorus.

(judging from a recent 1xtra ukgmixshow, dexplicit has begun to embrace proper 4x4 to mostly middling effect but gosh check out nana - "lose control", it's on the dexplicit myspace QL)

carmen reece - hey lover (mj cole rmx)

last year carmen reece had a dexplicit rmx of her almost-hit "u got me". it was aight. i was just trying to do a good segue. i don't think ive heard the og version of "hey lover" but this rmx by the world's most excellent human being is wicked, i love carmen's voice cos she's always trying really hard and doing unexpected yelps! cole as always makes really bad ideas such as LAYING DOWN FUNKY BREAKS seem like really good ideas thru force of will and being the yngwie malmsteen of the ukg game.

jiggalo ft lui lou - leaving you

i quite like this track but i am also putting it here to illustrate what the dexplicit song does right and many others do WRONG WRONG WRONG! it's like when the moment comes to write a vocal for their impressive-yet-inert ghostly instrumental (someone txt mary anne hobbnobs cos i think i just recognized DUBSTEP FLAVAS) rngists gotta try and match the doomy downbeat drama with more doomy downbeat drama on top! that's not fun! and while this is a dilemma for anyone trying to write a good rnb song from a loop rather than on babyface's acoustic guitar, that doesn't absolve rngists of responsibility to make their songs connect instead of just exist, which is what "leaving you" pleasantly does. so it turns out crazy futurismo spazz beat + wailing isnt enough after all?!?! (ha ha it is really suckers - cf. the amazingly hot "let me take u away" by davinche & sadie)

alex mills - food for thought

i recorded this about nine months ago but well here we are and it's not even on aim high 3! it is her off the roll deep album, with danny weed and arsenal of bongos, psk crashes and military bells. it was interesting at the time to compare this to teirra mari's similarly metallic and tuff-edged "no daddy", where the lack of melodic flourish and push-forward beat evokes one of them boring one-chord rock songs that are meant to eventually hit us with THE GROOVE get some chords, rockers! the "food for thought" beat meanwhile exists in a woozy limbo, making me think of nothing so much as alex mills being rolled along a boiler room floor in slo-mo, somehow finding the fortitude to sing her scarily/swearily direct tale of babydrama at the same time. heavy!

robbie t - regulate ukg rmx



funny how this is from the same 12 as the transcendentally appropriate "one wish" ukg mix. "regulate" is erm not especially relevant in the 06 and of course manages to drag ukg down the 90s plughole with it which just makes the whole enterprise even more delicious. it's like if ellen degeneres was to guest star on er (which incidentally i never miss since john leguizamo joined up!), or the slightly fatter crumpled face of someone you've avoided long enough to know you'll never be best friends with again. except that doesnt work cos ukg is my best friend 4 life! as ever with anything involving "regulate", i miss the 'i keep forgettin we're not in love anymore' version which seems to have been written out of gfunk history.