lotek hi-fi - mixed blessings
wayne 'lotek' bennet, wayne paul and aurelius make up the collective that is known as lotek hi-fi, three different characters each with their own distinctive vocal style makes this album a fascinating listen. a mixture of deep growls, sweet melodies and straight up hip hop raps across these cutting edge productions shows just why the guys have been so in demand by such influential scene leaders as roots manuva and manchester record label mystic brew. wayne lotek helped form the sounds for a few tracks on roots debut album, which subsequently lead to him helping out with several others on follow up albums, as well as the live show. obviously though, he needed to prove he could create his own set of urban dance grooves, and here it all is in various flavours - dubbed up, garage, hip hop and future electro all get a chance to shine. guests include a payback appearance by roots manuva on 'move ya ting', several appearances from dancehall vocalist of 2005 sandra melody (is there a big dada album in 2005 that she doesn't appear on !, ) and earl j. for a while, the range of styles will throw your head in all directions, but by the fourth listen the album really begins to settle in and become a welcome way to spend an hour.
my favourite parts are the old school reggae tracks such as 'ram dancehall' with its samples and appearance from earl j kicks off the album in mighty smooth boomtastic style before the listener is dropped into the string sections loops and stop-start beats of 'how its goes' where the ultra deep gruff-ness makes you wonder if they have been dipping into the chopped and screwed noises, but no the vocals really are that deep and gruff. however the album includes other highlights such as the imposing sci-fi hiphop atmospherics of 'what you see', spacey dub gorgeousness of 'slowburn' making you begin to wonder about just how massive attack are getting along, horn filled nice and easy reggae moves of 'sticks and stones', and so many others that its not long before you realise that 'mixed blessings' is a genre bustin' album that places the passion for bass bin threatening noises with of the moment hip hop, making lotek hi-fi a welcome addition to the thriving uk scene.
blessed are those involved with this fine album.
oh, and for anyone interested - there is an excellent mixtape version of this available from the ninjatune shop, where the grooves are matched against all manner of freestyle raps and shoutouts that are not on the final version but add some serious freshness to the proceedings.