Månadsarkiv: december 2011

Roundhouse, London In the late 1980s, Wimbledon FC became known as the least aesthetic but most effective of football teams. Eschewing all nuance or subtlety, they played a percentage game based on obliterating the opposition by pounding them with relentless brutal, high-impact assaults until they were simply worn down. Musically, Chase & Status do something similar. The London production duo of Saul Milton and Will Kennard have honed a clinically efficient strain of high-octane rave-rock powered by ear-bleeding drum’n'bass explosions and churning metal guitars, and saw this no-frills approach pay dividends at the start of this year when their second album, No More Idols, charted at No 2. The lowest-common-denominator beats and formulaic repetition make the album an unsatisfying experience, but Chase & Status come into their element live. As the nerdy Milton and Kennard lurk unobtrusively behind decks and keyboards, their bumptious frontman MC Rage acts as the cheerleader for their pulverising fusion of jungle, ragga, dubstep and testosterone techno. No More Idols features a slew of guest vocalists, but with Plan B, Dizzee Rascal and Tinie Tempah all elsewhere, it’s the album’s lesser lights who fill in. Tempah T is a ball of rage on Hypest Hype, but the pick of the vocalists is Clare Maguire’s spectral recital of stalker anthem Midnight Caller, a techno take on Play Misty for Me. These cameos represent a temporary lull from Chase & Status’s thumping electro-metal, and MC Rage soon returns to his primary activity of urging the moshpit to equal the excesses of the sledgehammer beats: ”I wanna see fucking mayhem!” As the stadium-rave keyboards of the final track, Blind Faith, fade away, the audience staggers out with incipient tinnitus. Rating: 4/5 Dance music Dubstep Electronic music Ian Gittins guardian.co.uk Läs mer →