(Against the Grain/Shock Records)

With a stunning array of dance albums released lately, across all imaginable genres, the tide is truly turning and we’re approaching a point were mix CDs are becoming passé and artist albums are the way to go. Dance producers who have traditionally only written material for the clubs have thrown their whole weight behind compiling artist albums – and it’s showing no signs yet of slowing down. In amongst all this, the Freestylers have released their third album Raw as F**k. It would be impossible to be a serious breaks fan and to not be familiar with the Freestylers: a key component of the UK breaks scene for many years, all of a sudden they’ve been thrown into the spotlight with the success of their hit Push Up. The boys have been responsible for killer single after killer single with over 45 records released – but can they cut it when it comes to full-length artist albums?

Readers of ITM would surely be familiar with Push Up by now. A seminal meeting of funky breaks and old-school 80’s electro, the song is pure genius. Not only has it been storming the clubs for close to a year, it has struck a chord with commercial radio as well, screaming up the charts and playlists. Never failing to get the blood pumping whenever it’s heard, Push Up is so unrestrainedly rockin’ that it redefines the term rockin’. Or something. There are other superb examples of electro-fusion on Raw as F**k: tracks like Big Boom show the Freestylers have grasped that it’s not merely a matter of plundering old styles for generic thrills. Instead, it’s about taking something familiar, merging it with something contemporary and in the process creating something new. The hummings of guest rapper Million Dan builds an atmosphere of unbridled excitement, and the beats are big and well produced.

What is most memorable about Raw As F**k is the amount of radio-friendly pop songs included. The album’s next single Get a Life is another pumping anthem, and the unadulterated pop glory of the tune is already receiving heavy rotation. And Punks is another song that won’t quickly be forgotten. With a vocal sample insisting that there are “Punks in the back / hoods on the right”, the song pushes a rising sense of tension that throttles through the roof. The song’s buzzing synthlines whir and hum like a high-tech piece of industrial machinery, before eventually bottoming out into some stomping drum breaks.  It’s incredibly effective stuff, and Krafty Kuts brought the house down when he played it at his recent Sydney gig at the Metro.

But while the album has its fair share of killer tracks, there is a tendency towards filler on Raw As F**k.  Examples like The Slammer don’t exactly set the senses alight, while the title track is merely above average. Many of the songs fail to scale the dizzy heights of Push Up, and rather than contributing to the overall flow of the album, you’re left feeling that many of them are have been inserted just to pad it out. What we are left with is a decent collection of certified dance floor bombs with mainstream appeal to boot, padded out by a number of songs that fail to have any impact at all. This is a shame, because tracks like Losing You show what a talent the Freestylers have for delicately crafted pop songs, a skill that will deliver them to much mainstream success.

What the Freestylers have shown beyond a shadow of a doubt is that they have mastered the radio-friendly single to a fine art form – and this is by no means an insult. The British boys are huge, and not unlike the Plump DJs, it looks like they’ll offer a recognisable face for the breakbeat scene. Songs like Push Up and Get a Life have struck a chord with their wide appeal, and there are a number of other songs on Raw as F**K that look like they could do the same. But unfortunately they’ve failed to deliver an album as consistently good as the Plump’s own masterpiece Eargasm. It’s unfortunate that with Raw as F**K the Freestylers have delivered an album that doesn’t really hold together or have a singular flow. In order to truly leave behind a musical legacy that will be remembered for years to come, the Freestylers have to grasp what truly makes an artist album memorable: all killer, without the filler