Cut Chemist needs no introduction, so it’s a small wonder this is his debut full length. It won’ blow you away with the originality of its vision – think consistent, high quality, major label friendly hip hop. Cut Chemist’s extensive experience as a record collector and party rocking Turntablist of the highest order is on display here, in fact it’s exactly what you might expect from the man – piles of silly spoken word samples cut with precision, and energetic beats. It’s cheesy, but it works for the most part. It’s a very competent example of a familiar cut and paste style, without being an amazing listen in and of itself. The placement of The Audience’s Listening Theme Song in an ipod nano advertisement is probably indicative of the inoffensive, danceable fare you can expect.
The light Bossa Nova of The Garden, while probably the album’ most sensitive moment, comes across as just a little insubstantial – laying down great slabs of Astrud Gilberto is just too easy. But that’s probably where the serious criticism ends, and if I was a party DJ I’d make sure this was in the box. The vocal collaborations all work well, particularly the Edan and Mr Lif number, and I envisage What’s The Altitude filling floors all over the place.
