The tragic loss of J Dilla hangs heavy over hip hop in 2006. There have been posthumous releases, including The Shining album, and tributes – notably the epic track ‘Can’t Stop This’ that closes The Roots’ Game Theory. And inevitably, eventually someone will be cast as the ‘new Dilla’. It’s a title that even the most wildly boastful of producers are likely to play down out of respect, but someone has to be appointed to recently vacated throne. Even if just to keep Madlib on his toes.

Exile is one producer who could rise to take the Dilla vacancy, as he works a similar terrain on Dirty Science by pushing the boundaries of soulful hip hop with slouching, skittering beats. The comparisons are almost unavoidable, with the album’s guest list including many artists who shared a studio with Dilla – including Slum Village, Aloe Blacc and MED from the Stones Throw label and Madlib’s brother Oh No.

Prior to this ‘solo’ effort he recorded as Emanon with Aloe Blacc and produced tracks for diverse groups including New York gangstas Mobb Deep and, on the other coast, golden age revivalists Jurassic 5. Exile keeps his science tighter than an atom, mixing styles but never creating a chemical imbalance. Dirty Science only has one disappointment – ‘Summertime in LA’ a lame R&B track; a slickly sweet crossover attempt – that’s strangely exiled amongst the dirt.

This may be a producer’s record but the beats aren’t wasted by weak cameos from MCs dropping in with half hearted rhymes, keeping the best for their own records. Dirty Science is an Exile solo record in name only as the lengthy cast list of MCs revel in the opportunity to work with these sparkling productions. Only ‘Silver Moon’ lacks a guest vocalist as Exile weaves a jazzy album closer. With its array of vocalists and intricate beats Dirty Science is almost a hip hop companion to the broken Detroit soul of the Platinum Pied Pipers, the current project for Slum Villager Waajeed.

Fittingly Slum Village kicks off Dirty Science with ‘Time has Come’, Exile providing a track of lurching beats and twinkling keys. Aloe Blacc’s superb storytelling work on ‘Spittin’ Image’ crafts a hip hop novel in a shade over five minutes. ‘Notch’ makes a swaggering move to the club floor with MED roughly riding the addictive bounce. While ‘Blamexile’ bursts from the speakers like a sequel to J5’s ‘Day at the Races’. Flowing thick and fast with wild boasts, Kardinal Offishall fires up ‘Smoke and Mirrors’. “I got guns bigger than M.O.P.//and if you believe me, I’m B.I.G.//I got the shit to make you say ‘oh!’//ain’t much of it for real though.”

While Exile certainly ain’t M.O.P or B.I.G he could just be the new Dilla. And with the added incentive of a Ghostface and Trife’s remix ‘Milk Em’ as a bonus track, few heads will be disappointed by the Dirty Science.