Si Begg
Director's Cut
(Mute)
After releasing an album last year on Mute under the name S.I. Futures, he's back with another deep cut of electro-funking electronic under his own name. Director's Cut continues down the line of his work under that other name and almost feels like it came from a time when electronic music was a little less cluttered and instead more about dropping a bassline so juicy that it moved your hips for you. The release could also probably be called his most 'poppy' yet, as it features guest vocals from a whole slew of different people.
Basically, this release sounds like it was build just for DJs. "Body" opens the disc with a bubbly bassline that bounces all over while a solid kick punches a slightly grimy post house beat and DJ Rush adds some repetitive vocals that sound like they were culled from an early 90s rave track ("I wanna move my body / I wanna feel the bassdrum"). "Grind" follows it up with a slightly dirty hip-hop beat that completely mixes things up with some cheesy, almost disco keyboards, while "Buss" is a slab of mutated two-step garage with vocals by "Miss MC."
"Moveup" pulls some of the boys from the Big Dada label (Mr. Taylor, Mr. Black and Mr. Aleem) to rap over a dubby, almost dancehall backing, while "Airports" mixes some filtered vocals by "Femme Von Trapp" over an almost global underground trance track. Over the course of 15 tracks and nearly 70 minutes of time, Begg throws out so many styles that it's almost hard to keep things straight. Begg is at his best when he's dropping massive low-end rumbles and kicking sort of a mutated electro-funk, and some of the other tracks simply feel like he's pittering about and throwing in random things simply for variety (because they're certainly not as developed musically). For those who just want to get down, you'll find plenty to enjoy, but as an overall listen it probably could have used a smidge more trimming to make it tighter.
Rating: 6.25
