Now then, this kind of slipped under the radar, coming as it did in the slipstream of My Neighbour Is‘s (try saying that when you’re pissed) instrumental hip-hop drop Buddha Fly back before Christmas. Turns out one instrumental hip-hop drop wasn’t enough for My Neighbour Is and he already had This Is Not A Pop Album lined up on his own label Neighbour Jam. Anyway, it was a busy time of year and things got all confusing at this end. Which is a shame because any producer who makes profitable use of a dialogue sample (rhythmically no less) of Ben Kingsley’s psychopathic character Don Logan from classic Brit gangster flick Sexy Beast deserves acclaim. Thus it is that I advise you to head straight for the brilliance of sax-driven funky jam, No, No, No – as in, “No fucking way mate – not this fucking time! No, no, no. Made me look a right cunt.” Genius.
Of course My Neighbour Is is the nom-de-plume of tech-house producer Robot Needs Oil and he’s made his (side project’s) name with finely crafted cinematic, downtempo breaks occasionally lobbing in more upbeat grooves. Here he practically dispenses with any attempt to make anything downtempo at all and the album pulses with funk grooves of the soul and blaxploitation and even big-beat laced breaks. And that’s no bad thing.
(Out now on Neighbour Jam)