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Keep The Grime On by: Visionary Underground

Tracks:

  1. Rollabreakz
  2. Militant 24-7
  3. Hooliganz
  4. Champagne & Wealth
  5. Surface to air
  6. Eye of the storm
  7. Murder won
  8. Shakti'z theme
  9. Urban Uproar
  10. Mind Yerself
  11. Sun & Grime
  12. Unity
  13. Money
  14. Make it Happen
  15. Subway

Review:

What do you expect from a crew that has dropped some wicked drum n bass on the dl before? You expect the same and much, much more.

Visionary Underground has given us just that. With this album they've hit us with drum n bass, dub, jungle, asian underground all mashed up into one big mess. A cohesive mess. A mess that has taken the talents of Feelfree, Coco and Damion and treated them with the skills of so many artists (the complete list is here) that the album is rockin' all the way through.

Tracks that shake your grill and make you move come infused with south asian beats and vocals by Sonia Mehta, Aref Durvesh and Pundit Dinesh; they are filled with conscious lyrics by Eslam and MC Navigator and, are energized by the bass wizardry of Dr Das. All this talent and energy invokes nostalgia for the days of Mutiny and Anokha; makes us hope that stuff like this keeps coming out on a regular basis.

My only gripe with 'the grime' - Damion's vocal talents - sorry to single you out man. His singing on tracks like Eye of the Storm and Murder Won seems to be stuck in one tone. He rarely ever shows any variation. Not that we are expecting the singing talents of an American Idol but some lack of monotony would have been nice.

All in all, an album worth buying for an avid Asian Underground, Drum n Bass, Jungle or electronica listener. But, don't take my word for it - listen to samples of the entire album here!

Update: samples no longer on VU's website.

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