The 2kDozen 500: #268 - Adrian Sherwood, "Becoming A Cliche"

Things have got a bit fitful again of late, and so again, after all my brave work in June, the 500 has slipped onto its arse once again. Let's see - to do the required amount of listens this month means I need to do another twenty-five in the next ten days. Two and a half a day! Silly Coc!

So this one has been bubbling around a few days, I've ended up listening to a track or two at a time, which is no good for this process. If it is a process... (See? This is the kind of enervating mood I'm in at the moment.)

"Dennis Bovine" is a mix of old school reggae and the more Nation Records world music end of the spectrum. Actually, there is no spectrum - much more of a kaleidoscope. Even more old school roots sounding on "J'ai Change", but in French, so as to meddle with my expectations. Then "You Wonder Why" is the same track with English lyrics; I think I like this. "The House of Games" is solid, propulsive maschine-dub with some wonderfully dirty brass sounds.

The only concern on "Nu Rizzla" needs no further explanation. I'm not sure how instrumental Adrian was in the formation of the Nineties dub and reggae but it seems to carry very Nineties flavours. The hard, maybe pilly edge on the otherwise warm dub sounds. A kind of cheerful paranoia; that fin de siecle business. The social conscience of "St. Peter's Gate" getting stuck into some Ms Scrooge. "Monastery Of Sound" features plainsong as well, which is pretty Nineties. The ingredients of a trip twenty years to the backwards are there. Feedback of hip hop being re-introduced to its source, perhaps.

"Forgive Yourself" and "All Hands On Deck" have plenty of paranoid rattle going for them. The second of them beaches up fairly suddenly at the end. And my insight beaches up too. Laters!

Rating: Cheerful Paranoia out of Metal-Edged Dub