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In The Mode

In The Mode

a review by Bill Tilland of
release format In The Mode by Roni Size:Reprazent (CD Album)

text

Even though Size and several of his Bristol-based Reprazent crew had been mainstays on the British club circuit since the early 90s, their 1997 double CD release New Forms caught everyone by surprise, going head-to-head with techno heavyweights like The Prodigy and The Chemical Brothers, selling mega units and winning some major awards.

Sure, it was partly a question of timing, but there was no doubt that the skillful blending of drum 'n' bass and jungle, with a touch of hiphop and soul, was a winning combination. Size and his group didn't flaunt their blackness, but their West Indian roots and connections to the American hip hop community (plus, of course, their thorough mastery of studio technology) gave them a leg up on most of their competition.

Now, three years later, the follow-up In The Mode has arrived, and while it's an interesting piece of work, it also seems a bit fragmented and unfocused, as if competing influences and impulses were tugging at the group during the recording process. Size has commented that he didn't just want to recycle the same old drum 'n' bass licks on the new recording, which is commendable, and In the Mode is definitely harder-edged than its predecessor, with a substantially greater vocal presence and a much stronger rap element. Instrumental pieces like "In + Out," "Heavy Rotation," "Mexican" and "Idi Banashapan" sustain the quality drum 'n' bass element of New Forms, although perhaps with a little more intensity, while three other pieces, "Lucky Pressure," "Balanced Chaos" and "Out of the Game," combine hardcore techno beats with singer Onalee's edgy, mesmerizing vocal loops.

Size uses a sampled string section to good effect on many of these tracks, especially in introductory passages as a way of establishing some initial drama. Most of the remaining tracks (about half the CD's selections) are primarily rap, and the longest two pieces feature a couple of guest rappers - Method Man of Wu Tang Clan ("Ghetto Celebrity"), and Zack de la Rocha, formerly with Rage Against the Machine ("Centre of the Storm").

Most of Reprazent's own raps seem to be about the group's musical prowess, or about the process of making music, and while this topic can grow a little stale after while, two of my favorite tracks on the album, "Dirty Beats" and "Who Told You," are by long-term Reprazent member MC Dynamite. His slippery rapping style plays with the beats and avoids the predictable ruts, and the rhymes are deft and nicely open-ended, with music-making used as a metaphor for life.

Less deft by far are the two guest artists, and regardless of what you think of their work on their own turf, they just don't seem like a good fit on this CD. If Size wants to produce them, fine - and I'm sure he'd be doing them a favour - but when I buy a Roni Size/Reprazent CD, I'm not really expecting (or wanting) Method Man's cartoonish gangsta rhymes, as he calls for pussy, asks everyone to "throw their hands in the air," threatens violence to all and sundry, and repeatedly poses the burning rhetorical question - "Now Who Tha Man Again?" (Let's see, that's a hard one... let me guess... Yawn.)

De la Rocha's rhymes and rapping style are somewhat less clichéd, but his apocalyptic ranting is ultimately quite tiring. It's like a dentist drilling on a bad tooth - maybe the tooth needs the attention, but the process is not what I'd call fun. I dunno, maybe Size (or the record label) were attempting to reach out to a larger audience, but I doubt that Wu Tang Clan/Method Man fans, or Rage Against the Machine enthusiasts, are going to have much interest in the more subtle aspects of drum 'n' bass - or subtlety of any sort, for that matter.

So... this a good CD, with some state-of-the-art sounds, but with a "something for everyone" philosophy which simultaneously represents (reprazents) one step forward and one step back. Posted by Bill Tilland at 00:00, 21 Feb 2001