London Elektricity - Pull The Plug

To my knowledge, this is an album which stands quite unparallelled in the realm of jazzy/funky drumnbass. Far too much "jazzy dnb" verges towards a few lazily looped lounge chords on a fender rhodes. This album represents the absolute antithesis.

It's scope and ambition in terms of songwriting and live instrumentation is light years beyonds the norm for the genre. The stunning first track, "song in the key of knife", sets out their stall: it seems almost fully orchestral with brass stabs, whirling flute, strings, live bass and more. Most critically, none of these instruments appear as some basic repeated sample: rather, we have a brilliant crafted and scored piece of music, which almost feels short despite a length of 11:26.

Second track PBE follows up in the same brilliant vein. The outrageous basslines and stupendously tight wah guitar leave other funk pretenders weeping. Other highlights include "rewind", a gorgeous and wonderful vocal-led track featuring jazz singer Liane Carrol, which cranks up from an intimate, acoustic half-time vibe.

This is the sort of stuff people who've never heard of drumnbass will find beautiful - but the drumnbass elements are top-flight as well. The breaks are all sorts of tight, heavy, rolling and funky throughout... and we've already established how astonishingly good the basslines are. Other tracks are a little more dancefloor-orientated, stripping the funk down to the raw rhythm section.

Above all, it is that raw, raunchy edge which makes this album so special. Where others ape the polished, overproduced groove of disco, this album doesn't lose sight of the spirit of true funk: dirty, sweaty and unapologetically primal.

This is, generally speaking, an awesome album. Extremely musical. My one gripe is that some tracks develope an instrumental atmosphere which then ruined by an absolutely AWFUL vocal (P.B.E. for example). I would love an instrumental version of this album. Drum and Bass is a tricky musical style to have vocals on, in my opinion they rarely work and this is no exception.