Me: "I got
this mix CD from a bloke called Marky off the UK-Dance list."
Loki: "Yeah? What is it?"
Me: "It's a drum 'n' bass thing - liquid funk."
Loki: "Liquid Funk? You're having a laugh!"
Me: "Well, I though it might be worth a go, y'knowÉ"
Loki: "Yes mate - ooooh I'll just put it on my coffee table over here
next to the copy of Wallpaper* and a fuckin' crystal-dolphin-healing-chakra-herbal-tea."
Me: "Oh piss off! Do you want to hear it or not?"
Jukebox Jury was never like this! If you've been fed on a diet of strictly ruffneck ragga tinged drum 'n' bass then the return the jazzier, smoother stuff might have you reaching for a large hammer. But this isn't vapid coffee table "intelligent" d 'n' b circa the mid 90s - it's a lot lot better than that. Sure enough, the music press had written off drum 'n' bass as being dead just at the point when things were starting to get interesting again. This time the airy/watery synths and female vocals are complemented with some firey/earthy beats and bass. It gives it all an urgency and stops it going up its own arse. Not a dolphin in sight!
There's a subtlety here that's missing from a lot of stuff these days. Mach V's CD glides along, really nicely mixed with some great selections. "Supergrass" by Carlito and Addiction recalls many a sweaty room, everyone swaying to the beat with a bottle of budvar held aloft. "Freeway" by Strategy is a perfect head nodder that glides along in its own groove. Mmmmmmm!
If I had a car, this would be booming out of my windows for the whole of the summer.
Me: "You're
nodding your head and smiling!"
Loki: "I am NOT, right?" [É] "Er, who's this track by then?"
DETAILS FROM: machv('at sign')appleonline.net
Punk bloody rock, that's what this is. And now the good news: DBATP have a sense of humour and realise you can't change the world by screaming about how bad everything is over a wall of feedback. Titles like 'An Obsession with Outer Space is a Sign of Mental Weakness' (an anti-AAA anthem? ;-)) and 'Fuck Tibet' conjure up visions of punk when it was alright to just have a laugh, make your point, and take the piss - there was no enforced PC or anti-PC agenda to contend with.
'I Wanna Work In The Media' is bang up to date bile:
"You give good head and you give good face
Pretended you liked Drum and Bass
Oh Yeah""Looking for a position on a style magazine
Missionary or doggy, doesn't matter if you're keen
If you've got the action and you've got the suction
You might just land a job in post-production"
One for the Nathans! In full punk-o-vision technicolour, so none of the tracks are over 3 minutes, and all of 'em are well worth checking out.