Album Review by Mark Bayross
Kent-based UK Crisis comprises the duo of multi-talented Neville Meredith (who, not content with merely being a singer-songwriter-musician and running his own record label Roman Town, has put his background in theatre sound design to good use by making films) and bass player, photographer and former LA Doors drummer Russell Grooms.
The clue to UK Crisis’ sound is in the title of their recently released EP, CROSSOVER (also reviewed here on PHASE9) – this is music to dance to and music to lose yourself in. Combining jazz, rock, hip-hop, techno, ambient and most points in between, this is impressive stuff.
So, while the title track has an infectious swagger rarely seen since the heady days of the Happy Mondays, the ethereal mantra of COLD DOWN has an almost gothic quality, and the fantastic lurching groove of 40 MILES (REVISITED) (an instrumental update of 40 MILES OUT OF TOWN from first album ADVERSITY) recalls The Chemical Brothers at their very best.
Admittedly, there are moments when it sounds like Meredith has been playing with the mixing desk out of curiosity (HYPER TENSION is a bit of a disjointed exercise in effects-twiddling) and a straight-ahead rock song like NOT BLIND? probably needs a bit more clout behind it in the production department, but this is an independent release, so who am I to nit-pick?
There’s a ton of ideas on SPIRIT LEVEL, and with some proper financial support behind them, UK Crisis could well be huge. In the meantime, pop along to their website and discover the next big thing before your mates do.
