Brisbane-based MC / producer Suckafish P Jones’ (real name Jesse Sullivan) recent limited-run “mixtape’ CDR Stagger/Swagger Vol. 1 acted as a bit of a teaser for this debut album proper Mr. Cloak And Dagger, whilst also introducing his formidable grasp of dubstep, hip-hop and grime production. Indeed a fair chunk of the tracks featured on Stagger /Swagger make an appearance amongst the eight tracks collected here, and it certainly comes as no surprise to find out that Sullivan has spent the last five years honing his live show, as Mr. Cloak And Dagger manages to flow with all of the energy of a live set. The slightly eerie nocturnal tropical sleeve art, complete with dimly-lit palms also proves to be an apt metaphor for the sorts of twisted and humid bashment, grime, dubstep and hip-hop emanating here from Brisvegas’ dark electronic underbelly. “Cold Sweat’ kicks things off on a bashment-tinged tip that combines a clattering undercarriage of ragga rhythms, bleeping TTC-esque synths and Suckafish’s own adept MC vocals in an offering that manages to pack plenty of dirty dubbed-out “stickiness’ in amongst the more streamlined electronics.
Highlight track “Totally Debase’ gets downright grime-centric, placing the kind of jagged broken beats and panic-stricken bleeps that would do the likes of Wiley proud beneath Babymachine’ MC kiss-off to Suckafish as all the stalker girl cliches featured on tracks like Dizzee Rascal’ “I Love U’ get turned and smashed on their heads, before “Straight Outta The Garage’ unleashes what’s easily the most satisfyingly sub-bass testing dubstep foray here (fans of Stagger/Swagger will no doubt already be familiar with its epic, sinister ragga creep). As for Suckafish’s collaboration with fellow Brisbanite Potato Masta on “Jungle Drops’, it easily manages to provide one of this album’s most suitably odd inclusions, placing exotic sounding instrumentation strangely reminscent of both Gamelan and Indian Subcontinental tones beneath a rattling barrage of clattering bhangra beats, swooping air-horn samples and the Masta’ own rapid-fire Japanese MC flow. Another impressive release from Suckafish P Jones, who’s certainly continuing to make a good case for himself as an artist worth keeping tabs on – those who salivated over Stagger/Swagger Vol.1 won’ be disappointed.
Chris Downton
