album of the week: 5.4

Ancient Astronauts

Into Bass And Time

(2011)

Why you'll love it: Stands right alongside first Gorillaz and Deltron albums.

Why you'll hate it: White-friendly hip-hop.

Plastic Beach did not do it for me. It's not a terrible album, but compared to Demon Days (2005), it's rubbish. So what in this new decade is going to fit that specifically designed Gorrilaz shaped gap, especially since I don't listen to much hip-hop to begin with? Enter Ancient Astronauts.

Hailing from Germany, this is a DJ duo with various guest vocal appearances. They hit all the right beats of a classic Dan The Automator production. Good use of samples. Smooth laid back style, but with enough variation never to keep boring. A cool central theme (this case being the whole astronauts thing). Honestly, if you were to tell me this was a Dan The Automator record, I would not call it into question.

The guest appearances are ok. No performances leapt out at me, but none turned me off. It's the instrumentals that make this album memorable and fun. "Anti Pop Song" is a top quality jam. "Peace in The East" has good use of the Indian and Middle East region vibe. "Calvert Street Rock" is old-school English dub ska. There is a bit more variety to this album than you may expect.

To be clear, this is NOT a Gorillaz copycat band. There is a whole punk and rock range of influences Gorillaz have that are not present here. It's all hip-hop and instrumentals; stuff that I loved in the old Gorillaz and Deltron 3030 albums. My personal scope is so limited that I'm provided with a fair replacement, but that is not their intent. It's great music, that you should check out, even if you think you don't need it.