Muujun.

Without offending too many people, I think it’s safe to say breakbeat is rapidly shifting from being one of the most forward thinking and diverse genres of the electronic music spectrum, to being perhaps the most tried, tested and formulaic. Gone are the days of Beber and Subphonic’s crisp rolling beats back in the early 2000’s, instead we find ourselves drenched in over-compressed beats and repetitive growling basslines, topped with a pinch of the bigbeat cheese we all once fled from.
Luckily for those of us with a hint of doubt in this stale situation, we still have a saviour, Illian Walker, better known to most as simply, Ils.
From his early days on Good Looking records, through to his ill fated debut album on Fuel, and on to what can only be described as a seminal first (official) release with ‘Soul Trader’ on Adam Freeland’s Marine Parade records as well a genre bending second album on Distinctive Records, Ils has proven one thing more than most, he knows his funk.

Armed with what must be the best beat programming skills in the music world, Ils has attacked the difficult fourth album with absolute finesse. Still here are the deep rolling bass lines, the shaking yet crisp beats, and the melodic strings and guitars.
From the onset of the album ‘Hate Is An Illness’, you know you are in for a treat as the strings and vocals roll in, reminiscent of his earlier work such as ‘6 Space’, and ‘Only Way To Survive’. The beats roll steadily on to the upcoming single ‘Everybody Needs A Shrink’, which admittedly sounds like an unreleased track from a few years back, which of course was a work of art back then, let alone considering the work that’s been done to it over the last few years.
Every track has it’s own highlights, although I can’t help but admit that there are less stand out tracks for me than the earlier two albums, although perhaps that’s only because I haven’t given the album enough of a listen.
The tracks that are really doing it for me right from the of, are; the beautiful strings and choppy beats of ‘Music Makers’, the high paced punk stabs and chunky breaks of ‘Burn Again’, the wobbly bassline of ‘The Internationals’ and the soulful, almost Shirley Bassey’esqe vocals of ‘Lone Rider’.
Although don’t for any minute doubt that the rest of the album is sub par fillers, because you will be infinitely wrong. Those are just of course the highlights in my opinion.

Overall this is one of the albums for the year for me, and without a doubt some of Ils finest work, albeit not quite reaching the Genre defying spectacle that was ‘Soul Trader’ (but considering that is one of my favourites of all time, it’s easy to see why)
Definitely worth a buy, this is one that will be staying on the iPod for a long time, excellent work!

9/10

Botchit & Scarper