Two years on, with a whole new generation
of sharp-tongued UK MC's (from Dizzee Rascal to Lady Sovereign)
paying tribute to his influence, Mike Skinner is back. And
within the first five seconds of his new single "Fit
But You Know It" - a riotous celebration of package-holiday
mating rituals destined to cause carnage on Europe's dancefloors
(All together now: "I reckon you're about an eight or
a nine, maybe even a nine and a half in four beers' time")
- it's already clear that he's come up with a worthy successor
to Original Pirate Material.
A Grand Don't Come For Free was made in
exactly the same way as its illustrious predecessor. That
is, with Skinner working mostly at home, "supplying
his own samples" (for example that savage glam-punk
guitar on "Fit But You Know It" is not some horribly
mangled offshoot of David Bowie's "Jean Genie",
it's Mike riffing it up on a borrowed Fender Telecaster),
and friends coming back from the pub to contribute occasional
background mayhem.
Beneath the bubbling stream-of-consciousness
lyrics for which he is justifiably renowned ("shut the
door behind me, huddled up in my coat, condensation floating
off my breath, squinting out the sun, my jeans felt a bit
tight, think I washed them too high ..."), The Streets'
uniquely rough-edged production continues to rearrange the
building blocks of the last fifteen years of dance music
into bold and unexpected new shapes. Acid's random bleeps,
the euphoric piano sound of Italian House. Jungle's spiraling
sub-bass, Trance's psychotropic drum surge, UK Garage's sexy
string stabs: they're all in here somewhere, just in a very
different order to the one they originally evolved in.
Listen to A Grand Don't Come For Free for
the first time on the bus home or taking a sick dog to the
vets, and all the little details will seep into your mind.
But put it on through headphones in the early hours of the
morning and a whole imaginative new world opens up. Just
as it did on first hearing Massive Attack's Blue Lines or
Dizzee Rascal's Boy In Da Corner - or, indeed, The Streets'
Original Pirate Material.
Are you sitting comfortably? Good, then
it's time to begin...
The Streets new album “A Grand Don’t
Come Free” on Vice Recordings will hit the states next
week 5/18. But you don’t have to wait till then to
hear it. Check this link to stream the full album
Streets E-Card: Click Here Now
www.the-streets.co.uk
|
