(Passenger Records/Inertia)

Celebrating nearly 10 years in the business, the Bournemouth, UK, trio of Dave Wallace, Brent Newitt and Keiron Bailey – otherwise known as Aquasky – have collaborated with plenty of big names in the breakbeat business to release a stormer of an album on their own Passenger Records label. Breaks fans will devour this clever release, stuffed to the brim as it is with tasty tunes. Impossibly catchy and with hook after hook, this album has played on in my head long after the revolutions on the CD player have stopped. In fact, if it wasn’t for the poor quality of the sampler, it would have got much more of an airing by now!

I get the feeling that if you ain’t on this album, then you ain’t much of a name in the breakbeat scene at the moment. Passenger exists to promote the vocal aspects of breakbeat, whether it be singing, rap or ragga, and they do it bloody well. A dazzling array of talent from yesteryear to today including Meat Katie, the Drummatic Twins, Spyda, Kool Keith, Ragga Twins, UK Apache, Spee (Dreadzone), Phil Hartnoll (Orbital), The Breakfastaz, FreQ Nasty, Backdraft, ElHornet (Pendulum), Tayo, DJ Icey, Autobots and Diane Charlemagne (Moby, Goldie) all appear, their tunes linked together by a strange Stephen Hawking voiceover.

That aside, there are a few rather fabulous tunes on here. The Breakfastaz’ Good Sound, featuring Diane Charlemagne, kicks things off in funky fashion, and the Aquasky and Backdraft featuring Spyda – What Can You Do – had me exceeding the speed limit frequently on the long drive to the coast with its big, booming bass and rockin’ ragga vocals. Spyda also pops up on the guitar driven Time Up, a fast and furious number that will appeal to drum and bass fans. My other favourite is definitely Revolution, from Epidemix (Freq Nasty) featuring UK Apache – sweetly delivered lyrics, a bit of rapping and even a flash of electric guitar here and there combining in an unusual and creative breaks tune. And Aquasky coupled with The Autobots and the raucous vocals of Teri on Dreamland makes for a pleasant meander into old skool raving territories.

But hey – apart from these fabulous tracks there’s a veritable smorgasbord of tunes to choose from. Tuck in, people.