Maddslinky is, of course, the work of Zed Bias, who seems to have a habit of being right up the front when new forms of beat making are being discovered. Trying to pigeon hole this one is a largely pointless exercise, suffice to say there’s a bit of dub in it, and plenty of ‘step’ – that is, some cunningly twisted beats, rolling bass lines and, on occasion, emotive vocals. The Mr Scruff collaboration ‘Dub Is For Real’ gets the fires burning nicely, while the vocal tracks from Jenna G and Tawiah are extremely well realised. What Maddslinky does so well here, though, is to make everything sound fresh, with plenty of zip and bounce to the Skream collaboration ’50 Shades Of Peng’, not to mention the more gritty instrumentals that complement the vocal material. Above all this is an album that works in many a different environment, bringing elements of carnival, nightclub and home listening together, shaking them up, and dancing around to admire the results. Excellent stuff.
5 Out Of 5
Reviewed By: Ben Hogwood
