Do the Germans do it better? It’s certainly a rambunctious call, but there is no doubting a certain air of undeniable – almost indefinable – quality when listening to a lot of Deutsch releases. If anything, the Germanic sense of musical artistry – particularly in the cities of Cologne and Berlin – is to reinterpret fringe music from the United States and then send it back across the Atlantic wrapped in robotic mystique and kitsch drama. It runs deep, from Afrika Bambaata borrowing Kraftwerk’s synthetic funk, to Tresor in Berlin giving residency to Detroit techno’s holy trinity in the early nineties. Ben Mono, an exceptional electronica producer from Berlin, may not be in that league, but on his second full length album ‘Hit The Bit’ he rejigs blinged up, gaudy US hip hop into a dark mess of digital funk and sweaty hip house. Utilising a multitude of vocal guests (including one of best MCs in underground house, Capitol A), Mono creates a booming sonic atmosphere, cleverly claustrophobic and devilishly dirty despite its self indulgence (17 tracks that could have easily been trimmed to 10 or 12 – an inherent problem in ALL modern hip hop). ‘Hit The Bit’ is an effective example of re-appropriation.

‘Hit The Bit’ is all about the collaborative guest vocalist, which is both a good and bad thing for Mono. The high octane electro of ‘Beatbox’ suits Capitol A’s hollow bellow perfectly, with whiplash electronics lighting up all around his monotone delivery, and on highlight ‘A + R part 2 vs. Studio 2’ Capitol A flows like honey over Mono’s rubbery synths. ‘Phoenix’ has a white hot bounce built for dance floor destruction, with vocalist Kerry L. Dooley providing distanced sly narration, but on ‘Universal Unit’ he sinks too far back into Mono’s smug and sleazy digifunk. On ‘Don’t Stop’ and ‘Don’t You Love It’ Mono conjures both Parliament and Schnaffel for Eddie Ruleclean to effectively bark his obtuse poetry. There are a couple of shockers; vocalist Jemini has a quasi Ursula Rucker style narration that may be to some tastes, but not mine (“We will drink the sun through the cracks in the DJ booth”, please!). She features heavily on the bad-as-the-song-title-suggests ‘Jesus Was A B Boy’, with the ridiculous outro featuring her giggling and crooning “Ben, oh Ben”. ‘Midnight Sun’ is a little lackluster, Jason Todd paling in comparison to the MCs that dominate the rest of Mono’s soundscape.

Despite these little mishaps, this is a solid and cohesive release from Mono and compared to the majority of drivel that comes from the US hip hop scene it is impulsive, creative and downright groovy. Capitol A steals the show (someone give this guy a record deal, please) with a swaggering, swashbuckling performance of tight lyricism, and Mono flexes his prodigious production muscles with aplomb. With some tough editing and quality control (more Capitol A, less Jemini), ‘Hit The Bit’ could have been outstanding. As it stands, though, the album is great example of Germanic hip house.