Category: Music archive

  • The Politik album review – Bêmbè Sêguè & Mark de Clive-Lowe

    The Politik album review – Bêmbè Sêguè & Mark de Clive-Lowe

    You might not have heard any debates or seen any rallies, but you’ll no doubt be already familiar with The Politik. For years, keyboardist Mark de Clive-Lowe and songstress Bêmbè Sêguè have elected to campaign on a soulful broken-beat ticket. With this in mind, you’d expect their musical manifesto to be awash with choppy, skewed […]

  • Collaborations album review – Jill Scott

    Collaborations album review – Jill Scott

    Her warm smile may adorn its cover, but don’t be misled, this isn’t a full-blown Jill Scott release. As its title suggests, it’s a collection of her collaborations with the likes of Lupe Fiasco, The Isley Brothers, Common, Will Smith, Al Jarreau and George Benson. (Inexplicably, 4hero‘s Another Day isn’t included.) But the sum of […]

  • Ma Fleur album review – The Cinematic Orchestra

    Ma Fleur album review – The Cinematic Orchestra

    Jason Swinscoe, the man behind The Cinematic Orchestra, has never been one to serve up cheerful tunes, but his sombre mood has plummeted to new depths on this recording. Ma Fleur‘s a soundtrack to an unmade film, but if it were ever shot, it’d no doubt be a tragedy. There’s no denying that this is […]

  • One Sweet Life album review – Brotherly

    One Sweet Life album review – Brotherly

    Even if you’re steeped in the hip environs of the leftfield music scene, you may not know of Robin Mullarkey and Anna Stubbs, aka Brotherly. Their anonymity will not doubt continue if, as Commercial Break’s been told, this CD remains misleadingly plonked in the R&B section of some stores. True, this is a vocal album, […]

  • Play With The Changes album review – 4hero

    Play With The Changes album review – 4hero

    Since 1998’s Twin Pages, Dego and Marc Mac (the producers behind 4hero) have been known for their refined blend of beats and strings, a mix that earned the pair a Mercury Prize nomination that same year. Since then, little has changed. The duo follow the if-it-ain’t-broke-don’t-fix-it school of music — as evident on this album’s […]

  • Back In The Dog House album review – Bugz In The Attic

    Back In The Dog House album review – Bugz In The Attic

    Bugz in the Attic’s début album has been creating a huge buzz among those urban trendsetters who tune into jazz-dance shows such as Radio 1’s Worldwide. The west London producers are leading exponents of broken beat, an achingly hip niche that’s noted for its irregular rhythms which, as one DJ remarked, resemble ”the sound of […]

  • Return Of The Rogue album review – Domu

    Return Of The Rogue album review – Domu

    Not only is broken beat, musically speaking, a jazzed-up cousin of urban bad boy drum ‘n’ bass, but the scenes share further similarities. Both, for instance, spawn a sprinkling of decent singles, but only a few artists are entrusted to make an entire album. Luckily for Domu, he falls into that elite camp — and […]

  • Power Soul album review – Peven Everett

    Power Soul album review – Peven Everett

    Articles on this multi-instrumentalist often mention that he’s an underrated talent and you sense he’s distinctly aware of being overlooked. On Power Soul, Peven never tires of reminding you of who you’re listening to. On almost every intro he repeats his name, as if he’s worried that in the time it takes to pick and […]