Mary Anne Hobbs - Wild Angels
Cover Artwork
Following Warrior Dubz and Evangeline, Mary Anne Hobbs' third compilation on Planet Mu will be out this Monday. Unlike its predecessors, Wild Angels puts its spotlight on the worldwide scene between “wonky” hip-hop, with a few dubstep tracks coming through.
This is a compilation many of Mary Anne's fans have waited for, though there are surprisingly few exclusives on it. In any case you get a CD full of tracks that are hard to get, many of them were -if at all- out on limited vinyl pressings only. And if you don't call a record-player your own, you will surely be glad to get hold of this music.
Ironically, the introductory track to this showcase of the often-cited new beat generation does not incorporate any beats at all. Yet, Mark Pritchard‘s “?” is one of the best and most anticipated productions. Its slow build-up and the droning bass creates a nice tension that only gets released with what follows. And what follows are many of the gifted producers played on Mary Anne's show every week, ranging from Hudson Mohawke to Nosaj Thing, Rustie to Mike Slott, Appleblim to Floating Points.
02. Hudson Mohawke – Spotted
03. Gemmy – Rainbow Road *
04. Mike Slott - Knock Knock
05. Brackles - LHC
06. Teebs – WLTA *
07. Nosaj Thing - IOIO
08. Untold - Discipline
09. Tranqill - Payroll (Paul White's Clean Dub)
10. Architeq - Sleeping Bear Lament (Take Remix) *
11. Rustie - ZigZag
12. Mono/Poly - Red And Yellow Toys *
13. Hyetal - We Should Light A Fire *
14. Starkey - Gutter Music V.I.P.
15. Darkstar - Videotape *
16. Floating Points - Esthian III *
17. Sunken Foal - Of Low Count And Light Pocket
18. Legion Of Two - And Now We Wait
19. Appleblim - Within **
* also available on the LP
** exclusive to LP and digital
You will find a lot of good tracks making this CD a worthwhile buy, the stand-outs for me were Mark Pritchard, Tranqill and Floating Points. However, there are some weaker tracks towards the middle and I keep thinking a mixed compilation could've hidden this.
Wild Angels will be out in three formats, apart from the CD some of the tracks -I guess the previously unreleased- are available on triple-LP. The latter also comes with a track from Appleblim, which is not featured on the CD. The digital release , however, contains all of them.