3.3.08

Wot Do U Call It? dubstep? house? techno? garage? funky?



A jellyfish with damn good taste in music has a dance and a prance to dubstep in the official video to Benga & Coki's Night - the biggest tune in clubland over the last six months. Wot do u call it? Dubstep, house, techno, garage or funky? Answers on a postcard please. Here's my review of Benga's LP that should be in today's Metro.

CD

Benga: Diary Of An Afro Warrior
Tempa
FOUR STARS

Benga is the king of explosive, energy-packed dubstep (or ‘bangers’ as he calls them) however he quickly breaks the shackles that might constrain the 22-year-old-Croydonite to an LP of club music, with dreamy opener Zero M2, although its wind chime like jangling cymbals eventually give way to suffocating sub bass. Despite Diary…’s dislocated, drifting feel, Benga’s dancefloor disciples won’t be disappointed as rough and ready anthems Crunked Up and 26 Basslines, which sounds like 26 shiny pin balls careering around a pinball machine, appear. However the cascading techno-house bleeps of Night - dubstep’s most whistleable (and biggest crossover) track to date – reveal what Benga’s about as he sucks electro, Detroit techno, bleeps, jazzy melodies, and moody chords into a vortex of dynamic bass while intricate, unexpected beat patterns, tempo shifts and key changes cast a hypnotic spell.