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Breakbeat heroes Evil Nine are special. After being signed to Adam Freeland’s Marine Parade label in 1998, the duo of Tom Beaufoy and Pat Pardy released a number of singles before making it big. In 2004, they released their debut LP You Can Be Special Too, a rollicking ride through breakbeat with a smattering of hip hop throughout, which even won them ‘Best Album’ at the 2004 Breakspoll awards. A few compilations have surfaced since then, but after four long years their second studio album They Live! has finally dropped in 2008.
From the opening track Feed On You, as soon as the synths kick in, you know you’re in for something different. Admittedly, I was a little disappointed with the 80s Euro sound after having really enjoyed You Can Be Special Too. However, something we’re seeing more and more often across all styles of music these days is the act of crossing over to incorporate two or more styles at once, which is why I’m not overly surprised that the Nine have moved more towards electro territory for this release. Disappointed, yes… but not surprised.
Don’t get me wrong, there are a few good individual tracks here, such as The Wait featuring David Autokratz, which could easily slot into a B-grade zombie flick, All The Cash featuring Definitive Jux head honcho El-P, a rock/hip hop mélange, the title track with its monotonous catch cry of “They walk, they lie, they love, they live!/ They wake, they fall, they cry, they live!/ They fight, they fail, they die, they live!”, as well as Dead Man Coming featuring Toastie Taylor, a mixture of dancehall, grime, dubstep, breaks and electro.
On the other hand, tracks such as Twist The Knife featuring Emily Breeze and Icicles featuring Seraphim, with that overindulgent electro sound, could almost be mistaken for The Presets. For fans of breaks, that’s not a good thing.
The concept of the album has been likened to that of Daft Punk, but with zombies instead of robots. It’s a clever and funny gimmick with which they’ve gone into a lot of detail with, from the snippets of old zombie movies interspersed into tracks to the comic book style album artwork. I guess you could call this a themed album, taking more of a structured route compared to the general breakbeat and hip hop stylings of their debut. Props must go to the boys for taking a risk with this record. Most of the reviews I’ve read for it are praising the direction Evil Nine are heading in. This reviewer, however, is not in agreement.
Part of me wishes they’d stuck to their tried and true formula that made You Can Be Special Too one of the most exciting breaks albums of the past five years. I’d probably steer clear if you were expecting something similar to that, but give it a go if your current tastes are sitting on the cusp of the breaks/electro hybrid sound.
The3rdPlumpDj says...
Yeh there are some real contrasts in this album... the stand out tracks are really great... the not so stand out tracks have nothing really going for them all... love the theme tho... i too was and still am a big fan of the 80s horror genre