DANCE REVIEWS

Rip It Up, Issue 230, 1 October 1996, Page 28

DANCE REVIEWS

RENEGADE SOUNDWAVE RSW 1987- 1995 (Mute) This is a double CD of Renegade Soundwaves from their four previous albums. Except for ‘Brixton’ and ‘Thunder ll’, all their single Soundwaves are also included. Personally I’m not so into some of their earlier stuff, which had a definite industrial bent and a penchant for dodgy lyrics which today sound very dated indeed. Having said that though, there are some great moments, like the disco electro stomp of ‘Biting My Nails (Bassnumb Chapter)’ (1990) and ‘Woman Respond to Bass’ (1992), which features a woman crooning sweet nothings about bass and so forth, over a deep pounding house track which could only be described as bass heavy. Bringing us more up to

date is the best known soundwave of them all, ‘Renegade Soundwave’ (1994), in its Leftfield remix which was a big club hit — and deservedly so, it’s a killer. ‘Positive Mindscape’ (1995) is also wicked, with its crashing breakbeat and anthemic guitars, while ‘Blastik 1’ (1995) is a mesmerising piece of ambient dub reminiscent of Leftfield’s ‘Fanfare of Life’. VARIOUS ARTISTS Rivera (Hi-Life/Polydor) This is a collection of house tracks from the Hi-Life label. Hi-Life specialise in the party anthem, they are often vocal dominated, slightly mainstream and, depending on your point of view, pretty cheesy really. There are artists such as Kim English, Stabbs, DOP and Up Yer Ronson, It’s a double CD and both are mixed by Graeme Park, who strings it all together very nicely. If you’re a fan of this sound I’m sure you’ll get hours of fun out of big unsubtle tracks like ‘Renegade Master’ and ‘Groovy Beat’, otherwise you’d be best off avoiding it — you’ll develop a headache, fast. VARIOUS ARTISTS DJ Nightraver — Happy Hard Live Mix 1996 (Slamm) VARIOUS ARTISTS . DJ Trevor —Happy Hard Live Mix 1996 (Slamm) VARIOUS ARTISTS Australian Rave Hits Volume 1 (Slamm) Three happy hardcore CDs to review, oh, joy... These all come from Australia where happy hardcore is super large. Over here it’s largely restricted to the Brain parties and smaller suburban raves that the rest of us never hear about. Happy hard has always been a victim of snobbery from those who aren’t charmed by the stomping beats, twinkling pianos, intelligent samples — ‘let the bass drum go!’ — or general happy abandonment. Still, if the kids want it, let them have it. These CDs are all pretty similar, and naturally enough you’d be better off with one of the mixed CDs to best recreate that dancefloor sense of liberation. If you’re a happy hard sort of person then these will really rock your spot, if not you are heartily advised to avoid any aural contact whatsoever,

trust me. Anyway, the Slamm crew promise lots more hardcore releases are on the way, as well as a CD mixed by New Zealand’s hardcore king, Sample Gee. The Geester is also rumoured to be producing his own material for the unsuspecting worldwide hardcore massive — we await with interest... CYPRESS HILL Unreleased and Revamped ,7 - ‘ ■ (Sony) Well, I’m not sure that we really need this. I guess the Hill are either too busy or too stoned to do another album. Maybe they’ve split up or, more than likely, this is just a money making stopgap release so we don’t forget about them in the meantime. Whatever. The thing is, I’ve gradually come full circle from being a Cypress fan to being quite irritated by them. It all seems to come back to B-Real’s infuriating vocal impediment, you know, the one that forces him to speak through his nose. What once seemed like an amusing gimmick now just makes me cringe. On the bright side the Fugees offer a cool mix of ‘Boom Biddy Bye Bye’, featuring the vocals of the mad talented Lauryn, and Q-Tip turns ‘lllusions’ into a stark, bouncy, toe-tapper. There’s also Muggs’ ‘Blunted Mix’ of ‘Hand on the Pump’ which I’d have to say is the best track the Hill ever did. If you have the albums don’t bother — unless you’re a die hard fan suffering from withdrawal, you’ve heard it all before. ROCKERS HIFI Mish Mash (Warners) A welcome return for Rockers HiFi. The Rockers sound is based in dub, but is open to all manner of sound pollution, with house and drum ’n’ bass cropping up for that extra flavour. First track, ‘The Bth Shade’, is a killer, opening with a long ambient intro, eventually a vintage dub beat lurches into life, before finally mutating into a rip roaring drum ’n(heavy on the) bass celebration. There are four different two-minute tracks called ‘Mish Mash’ which are all very nice, if uneventful, laidback instrumentals, and then there are three vocal cuts. This is where they get it completely wrong. Someone called Phoebe Esprit gets to rap/sing over two tracks in a seeming attempt by the HiFi to go pop — a bad move, which will only alienate their loyal audience. ‘Going Under’ features Patrick Plummer, who sounds like

Birmingham’s answer to MC Solaar, only not as good. He raps over an introspective dubscape about the forbidden pleasures of the city etc.... Luckily they get back on form for the rest of the album, and since when the Rockers rock, they really rock, aside from said vocal intrusions, this is a goodie. LONDON FUNK ALLSTARS Flesh Eating Disco Zombies versus The Bionic Hookers From Mars (Ninja Tune) The London Funksters are about melding different styles, influences, instruments and samples, to reflect the ever changing mood of urban London. This album is more musical than the slamming ‘London Funk Allstars Volume I’, and although it still reeks with .that slamming funk attitude, it’s also more laid back. Most tracks are based around sampled breakbeats over which live musicians let rip, next to looped sirens and rap samples. My favourite track is ‘Junkie’s Bad Trip’ — a sparkling, but moody funkathon which samples the same riff from Das EFX, ‘They Want EFX’. It’s not exactly London, but with summer just around the corner this would certainly be a fine addition to your collection. File under phatness. ROLLIE POLLIE 111 Blood Royal ■' (Graveyard Productions) A strange one this, I freely admit that getting my head around the 19 tracks involved was not an easy task. Rollie Pollie is Aucklander Richard Broughton, with help from a couple of dodgy vocalists and various musicians. The whole thing was impressively done on four track and is an epic, sprawling project on cassette (which they neglected to label, so no song specifics on this one). General comments though: the three people credited for percussion mostly bash out some laidback rhythms which serve as the backbone.for all manner of weird shit. Guitars wind their way in and out, a synth drones on and on, the whole thing will be smoothered in feedback, the bass is humming and then there’ll be a sketchy vocal. Woah, maybe if they toned it down it might work, but this reminds me too much of early Depeche Mode, who I never liked. ;'

ANDY PICKERING