Roots Manuva
Awfully De/EpRodney's back to show us the swaggering bastard child of Witness (1 Hope) - here's your chance to down ten pints of bitter and throw yourself around with rowdy glee.
Here it is: the brash, swaggering bastard child of Witness (1 Hope). You know you all looked for it on Awfully Deep, and without a sequel to the Lord Gosh's floor-cramming classic, it took a while to appreciate that record on its own merits. Here it is, wisely kept away from the other children on his fractured Awfully De/Ep: the inappropriately titled Seat Yourself. With a drunken, grandstanding opening of juddering bass which could only belong to Manuva, he comes in with an unashamedly self-celebrating guess-who's-back tirade: "The R.O.D., the N.E.Y., that's that bloke that geez that guy..." Here's your chance to down ten pints of bitter and throw yourself around with rowdy glee. Diplo's remix moves the judder to the top end of the tune and bounces kettledrum underneath in an engaging display of noughties electro-hop best enjoyed by doing the robot really fast.
The EP's title comes from the re-recording of Awfully Deep "Lambeth Blues", worked out with Damon Albarn and Smith's tour band. The Gorilla's tendency to tempered mournfulness neatly complements the banana klansman's twisted melancholy, roots' line "I'm feeling happy when I know I'm sad" serving as a shorthand for both. Joseph Mount's Metronomy remix, with its silly soul-sung refrains, is perhaps a version too far – you have to be pretty well acquainted with the original to get the joke. Rodney and Damon make a pretty pair though, making the music a better fit to the the lyrics than the original. I especially like the guitar chugging under "Mr Smith, please come down, we're not here to hurt you". They might even have outdone their All Alone collab on Demon Days – more please!
The EP's title comes from the re-recording of Awfully Deep "Lambeth Blues", worked out with Damon Albarn and Smith's tour band. The Gorilla's tendency to tempered mournfulness neatly complements the banana klansman's twisted melancholy, roots' line "I'm feeling happy when I know I'm sad" serving as a shorthand for both. Joseph Mount's Metronomy remix, with its silly soul-sung refrains, is perhaps a version too far – you have to be pretty well acquainted with the original to get the joke. Rodney and Damon make a pretty pair though, making the music a better fit to the the lyrics than the original. I especially like the guitar chugging under "Mr Smith, please come down, we're not here to hurt you". They might even have outdone their All Alone collab on Demon Days – more please!
