August 15, 1998

Naked City Soundtracks

Plodding would-be dangerous Leeds big beaters in lost-plot scenario...

4 / 10 Goodness, Leeds' Glamorous Hooligan are dangerous. No, really, it's true. These guys are, like, pre-millennial soothsayers from the cultural melting pot that is the metaphorical inner city and, provided the typeface looks nice, they've got Something To Say. Trouble is, no-one's paying much attention.

No, things aren't going too well in the media-literate, big-beat brotherhood. The conscientious thuggery peddled by the likes of Bedlam Ago Go and Dust Junkys has failed to affect anyone remotely familiar with Crimewatch. Now, somewhat belatedly, the three Hooligans swagger on to the scene with their twisted home truths and, um, eclectic musical styles. Still... scary breakbeat 'mayhem'? Tales of brutal urban reality? Is a theme appearing? That'll be the ubiquitous soundtrack-to-an-imaginary-film device, then.

A film without a plot, clearly. For on 'Naked City Soundtrax' our heroes flounder from socially-aware big beat ('Stoned Island Estate') to tinpot drum'n'bass ('Agenbite Of Inwit') and Orb-like twittering with nary a sighting of the point, let alone a fully-fledged agenda. Meanwhile rapper Martin Diver's bouts of specious rhetoric are occasionally risible: "In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king", he muses. Be afraid. Or don't bother.

Only the deep house and rubber funk of 'Dead Sea Surfing' suggests that this is, in fact, supposed to be dance music. And it's not that dangerous at all, actually. Just rather dull.

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