original soundtrack of the never made movie >brotherman< from 1974.

the first track on the single, heart of dem, is an ode to the youth and the struggle they face growing up today amongst the chaos on our streets. chemos production and the brothers melodic chorus make it an upbeat track despite the serious nature of the lyrics. bollox sees brotherman oozing bravado over a bouncy reggae groove with a deep dub bassline courtesy of hot new producer tea jay. the tracks are taken from brothermans first full length project, which will take the form of a double ep, the dark and the light.

tiptoes presents their >the akai samurai strikes again ep<

first word records proudly presents *the misadventures of a middle man*, the new album from essa. despite being a firm fixture in uk rap for over a decade, this will be essas first full-length since 2006s *grown man business* with dj mr thing. early releases *liquid love*, *city breaks* and *dancing shoes* (under former name yungun) established him as one of the uks most insightful mcs. collabs with guru (gang starr/jazzmatazz) and praise from nas and mark ronson followed. all of this whilst pursuing a parallel career as an entertainment lawyer.

after their sure-fire succession of great releases dam swindle end up on the excellent freerange imprint. and if you like the words deep along with atmospheric then this will most definitely appeal to you. from the opening title track with its lush, moody nu-groove styled pads and thunderous hand-claps these three productions simply ooze class and intensity in abundance. next is >gotta know< which rewinds back to classic house sounds and injects a sense of melody into the already swinging rhythms and punchy, detroit bass. which is then followed by >brotherman< and yet more in-depth moods, this time accompanied by jazzy, scat styled vocals for added diversity. finally we have wolf music main man krl stepping up to remix brotherman and a rather sterling job he does to. making great use of the vocal krl brings us a slowed down version with his trademark shuffling drums and a dynamic arrangement. piano stabs and a cheeky boogie synth sample all help bring his own sound to the track and round off the package perfectly.

excellent funky freaky tech track ...irresistably smashing that is- but if you have doubts flip that thing and you got our new beloved electrostaticstic shooting star robag wruhme ::mr freude am tanzen,musik krause and good old wighomy brotherman from jena who delivers an incredibly thrilling ace robakkbröswoodkaiinferno mix

compiled by norm talley