Album review - Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip, Angles

11:10am Friday 11th July 2008

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Shaun Medlen from Northumberland Heath hails Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip's pioneering debut, Angles

Over the last decade, there has been an influx of MCs and street poets which have bombarded the charts - Dizzee Rascal, The Streets and Plan B being among the most prolific.

Instead of talking about lifestyles and what they dream of becoming, they talk of issues and problems they have faced in their lives, whether it is violence, addiction or losing friends.

With only one of the aforementioned artists releasing a new album in the past two years, an opportunity for a new face to emerge has arisen.

Stanford-Le-Hope's Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip first came to the attention of some with their Thou Shall Always Kill single, and after relentless touring, appearances on radio shows and the push of the MySpace generation, we arrive here at their full length debut Angles.

From the very second the album starts, you can tell this is going to be a new experience.

Scroobius Pip, whose roots seem to lie fiercely in the indie scene (odd for an MC), starts with a talk of how he sees the music scene at the beginning of Beat That My Heart Skipped.

It is inspiring and refreshing to hear a musician wanting to change things "just to have fun". Anyone who raps about the Periodic Table (Development) and Tommy Cooper (Tommy C) is definitely bringing something new and intriguing to the fore.

That's not to say that there are not any personal elements on this album. The slowed down Look For The Woman tells the tale of someone stuck in somewhere they don't want to be, while The Magician's Assistant is truly gut wrenching and sends shivers down the spine, with its flip-side view of suicide and self-harm.

Le Sac/Pip also have their topical view on a number of things such as the music scene in Fixed, Letter from God to Man gives religious issues a twist and Tommy C, while honouring the late, great Tommy Cooper, also deals with issues of materialism in society.

The now infamous Thou Shall Always Kill is here too, which is seemingly made in jest, but does have a serious point to make.

But, the most important song here is the title track, Angles. This tells the story of a horrific stabbing, but from the angles of four different people.

You must listen to this song more than once, it will make so much more sense, especially in the current climate.

Once the penny drops, hopefully you will get the same goosebumps I did.

There are a couple of problems with this record. The major being the production could have been better. On certain songs it is very hard to hear the vocals over the music and the vocal re-recording of Thou Shall Always Kill was perhaps unesscessary. Even Pip questions it during the song.

These glitches aside, this album has to been seen as one of the strongest debuts of the year, and with several tour dates (including Reading and Leeds) to come, it's now only a matter of time before these two get the attention they deserve.

The music scene is now becoming flooded with repetitive music and material which has been seen and heard before. What these two have given us is a reminder there are pioneers out there, who are willing to take a chance. In this case, it has paid off with some of the most innovative, refreshing and superb music and lyrics I've heard for a long time.