Riddim Box: Excursions In The Uk Funky Underground

Riddim Box
Reviewed by Sadie O., 2/24/11
The latest electronic club genre from the UK – “Funky” – is a combination of house, dubstep and grime, drum and bass, and dancehall. Not really Reggae, but definitely British Jamaican (and anyway, I found it first, ha!) Riddims seem to be cobbled together from found sound elements as well as electronics and drums. Most vocals in Jamaican patois. Great stuff!
CD 1:
1. 4:36 ****bouncy, perky trap drumming, hip wiggler riddim. Adds percussive elements. Crazy cool!
2. 3:23 **big drama intro, funky drumming and buzzy, blatty electronics, and some synthesized strings. Fraught with something.
3. 5:40 ***4/4 on the top, and boops and things adding in to make a complex percussive riddim. Neet. Definitely an element of Dub.
4. 5:37 ****crazy lopassed cobbled riddim with dancehall chat in patois. Rather formulaic (and suggestive, if you can make them out) vocals, but the total package is crazy fun.
5. 5:02 ****active little syncopation on the high-hat with electronic squeebles and Warrior Queen’s inimitable vocal stylee.
6. 6:28 ***sung admonition to dance dance dance, then boopy electronic riddim and dancehall patois. Again, the vocals would have sucked without the absolutely mad production.
7. 5:12 **sirens indeed… and a cute little beat on the tom. Hey, I hear enough sirens in my hood on a daily basis… Fortunately, there’s a bit of modulation and random noise contributions to the riddim.
8. 6:02 *** “Roska!” then very sparse and lopassed riddim, building and adding stuff till it gets quite complex and groovy. Lots of echo.
9. 5:46 *****complex percussion based on African patterns, but clearly electronic and found sound riddim. Cool!
CD 2:
1. 7:12 ****tippity tap on the high hat, then blat ‘n’ groove. Infectious, although seemingly sterile… Inscrutable patois chat about dance.
2. 5:27 *nice riddim, high electronic buzz. Lose the buzz and it’d be quite good. OK, I get that it’s Art, but it gives me a headache. And it seems to be attracting insects.
3. 6:14 **jaunty beat and sirens. And woobles and squoops. Lots.
4. 4:49 ****lopassed and almost arrhythmic at first, with dubby echoes and things, pretty singing and crazed dancehall rap.
5. 5:20 ****random things, then very attractive electronic percussion, quite Caribbean/Highlife, in its way. Wow, some very cool sounds.
6. 4:53 **bouncy riddim and grunts, odd synthesized “strings” riff.
7. 4:44 ****big sounding drum and 4/4 thumps (and boomps). Bit of incomprehensible patois.
8. 4:36 ***beats and ghosts. Lots of hungry ghosts. And frogs. BIG frogs.
9. 5:42 ***happy little high hat and hand drum riddim with bits of synth strings and horns. Kinda sweet.
10. 5:23 **echoes and beat, very electronic.