As the ‘Alf’-mangling sleeve art accompanying this fifth album ‘Time To Play’ attests, Belgian hardcore producer Jurgen Desmet (aka Sickboy) isn’t exactly a guy who occupies one of the more morose and po-faced corners of the breakcore landscape. Having previously released albums on Peace Off, Mirex and Very Friendly, this first album since 2007’s ‘Music Therapy’ sees Desmet continuing to strip away the all-out noise that characterised his earlier work, in favour of sample-based mash-ups that pay homage to classic hardcore rave, and indeed proves to be his most immediately accessible collection to date. Indeed, this album is most happy when it’s blasting out toxic distorted Altern8 synth riffs and pulsating double-kickdrums against hyper-accelerated hiphop / rnb samples (see ‘Don’t Stop Now’), or using cheesy afternoon kids TV show samples as the backdrop for pounding gabbercore rhythms and scissoring breakbeat shuffles – cheerleader vocals included on ‘Darkwing Droog.’
Elsewhere, ‘Take Me On’ self-destructs the A-Ha track of almost the same title, taking it out on a hammering murder-ride that also sees The Cranberries’ ‘Zombie’ and what sounds like a traditional Russian massed military choir being blasted into drill-like kickdrum mayhem. In short, ‘Time To Play’ is an album that proves to be considerably more accessible to non breakcore heads than much of Desmet’s previous output, and also one that’s likely to provide a crossover point for many listeners outside the scene, or just starting to get interested in hardcore styles. It’s also a collection that I personally found to be the most consistent out of the preceding Sickboy albums, and like longstanding collaborator Bong-Ra proves that hardcore is sometimes best delivered with tongue packed firmly in cheek.
