Skip-ij by State of Bengal
Tracks:
- Skip-ij
- Hold it in my heart
- Play that way
- Breathe in
- Dushto meyra
- London to Dhaka
- Mr. President
- Get down like this
- Cha na na na
- Sukno patar
- Future people
- Trip to the moon
Review:
Review:
This is probably what State Of Bengal wanted to do with his previous album however, he wasn't able to as he was sharing the title with someone else. With that in mind this is truly State of Bengal in his own element. What Sam has done ranges from Dub, to Hip Hop to DnB just as it ranges from the gritty and raw, to absolutely stellar and amazing.
The album starts out with a title track that is bangin! It's a dubbed out hip hop trip that completely gets you out of your seat and makes you wanna move. Then the album gives you a track that feels like a love balled for a neo-bohemian-activist-dub couple. If such a couple exists then here's the song for the first dance at your wedding.
From there on State of Bengal flounders a bit and gives us a few tracks that are enjoyable but a bit repetitive considering that they are coming from a legend in our scene. After great albums like Walking On and Visual Audio it's unexpected to hear a track like Breathe In from State of Bengal. Here, even Nolan Weeks's inspired poetry doesn't make up for the fact that the beats on the track just travel on and on without any clear direction.
After those hiccups however, there isn't a flaw to be had in the album. From the hard hitting drum n bass on Dushto Meyra, to the laid back dub with his younger brother Deedar on London to Dhaka, to the scathing review of our president on the next track, to the funkiness of Get down like this, to the beautiful vocals on Cha na na na and Trip To The Moon, State of Bengal gives us an album that you can listen to whenever you are in a dubbed out dnb mood.
This is a true classic in the making (barring a few speed bumps).
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