Breakbeat Era
Ultra-Obscene

After the phenomenal "New Forms," it was hard to imagine that Roni Size could repeat the feat by creating an album of equal and commendable quality. However, the DJ and producer from Bristol surprises everyone by releasing "Ultra-Obscene" (Talkin' Loud, 1999) two years after his multi-award-winning debut. This album is the result of collaboration with vocalist Leonie Laws and fellow DJ Die, with whom he forms the Breakbeat Era collective.

With its bizarre and ultra-minimal artwork, the project presents, in its fifteen tracks, analogies and, most importantly, differences with the previous "New Forms." The desire to make fans and clubbers from around the world move their heads and hips remains, but at the same time, the "black" soul of the Drum'n'Bass genre is further explored through the excellent and almost omnipresent voice of Leonie Laws and the raw and engaging rhythms created by the two DJs at work, in many cases true wedding invitations for the gifted breaker on duty. The low and distorted tones of the opening "Past Life" (in fact, a characteristic of the entire work) introduce us worthily into the album. "Rancid," with its heavy and fragmented rhythms, first sheds light on Miss Laws' vocals. The magnificent title track is a veritable anthem to dance, as well as a sonic kaleidoscope of incredible complexity, with acidic and "pitched" drum inserts, funk-flavored wawa guitars, and more. One could linger and meticulously describe each track, from the deep and delicate (in quotes) "Bullitproof" to the hypnotic "Time 4 Breaks", passing through the instrumental "Late Morning", with its beautiful guitar sample, "Animal Machine", dominated by slow and dilated tempos that precede shortly the triumph of electronic effects in the chorus, then reaching the echoes and reverbs of the splendid "Control Freak" and the varied sonic universe of the concluding and pounding "Life Is My Friend", which ends 74 minutes of music close to perfection.

Of course, in some (very few) cases, the overall level slightly decreases, but in any case, "Ultra-Obscene", while positioned a half-step below the epic "New Forms," remains an essential work for fully understanding the D'n'B universe of the past decade, an intense album to dance to and, why not, to love. Rating: 4.5