Given that Kista’s latest long player dropped in the middle of last month, you might have thought the monkey had gone to outer space to be dropping words about Diggin In Outer Space now. But hell, better late than never right? Our man himself describes it as, “an ode to late 80’s and mid 90’s hip hop, NYC subway graffiti etc.” – and that’s pretty accurate (as you’d expect) if by mid-90s hip-hop we’re talking about what are, for the majority of the set, the sort of thing that used to be referred to as ‘blunted beats.’ The 80s influence is more in the choice of samples – especially the spoken word ones drawn from the archives of vintage old school flicks and interviews.
This one opens (correctly) with a number of vintage spoken word samples in both US and RP-accented UK English over a funky-proggy drum break before giving way to one of this album’s longest cuts, Correct Technique, which sets the tone with distinctive ambient synth chords over crisp drum breaks and Rhodes keys and vintage hip-hop samples. If you were around in 1995 you may remember this sort of thing was inescapable. It certainly took me back. In many ways Diggin In Outer Space was a big part of the sound of the summer for the monkey since this was on heavy rotation while the years-old Ikea-based vinyl 7-inch ‘storage solution’ at MB Towers was being replaced by custom plywood shelving making better use of the same space. And if you’ve ever had to give any shelving unit of any size three coats of polyurethane varnish, you’ll know that’s a lot of listening time – not to mention a lot of time that can’t be spent blogging about records. But needs must. Anyway, we digress. I say ‘we’, it’s me isn’t it? The point of all this is that it’s testament to the accuracy of Kista’s 90s-style beat-crafting that listening to Diggin In Outer Space was so evocative that it prompted a digging out of a number of back-in-the-day classics. The most like-minded of these was the first Wiseguys LP Executive Suite – also by UK producers, containing a significant number of instrumentals (though unlike Diggin In Outer Space, it’s not all instrumental) and if you check tracks like Room Service and Poontang on that LP you’ll see why.
Lest you think that this one’s all stoner grooves though, it does have its dancefloor number in an LP edit of Stack Of 45s – a funky drum-break-laced uptempo number. Having said that, earlier on Computer Rock switches the tempo up in its final third as we’re regaled with an NYC graff legend pointing out how you’re, ‘constantly looking out for the third rail,’ while throwing up burners on subway rolling stock. Another monkey favourite and one of Diggin…‘s most distinctive cuts is Solstice mainly because it makes nifty use of a classic sixties Canadian psychedelic folk sample. But don’t just take the monkey’s word for it. Dig the whole project on your own trip to outer space!
(Out now HERE)