Ninja Tune have always made innovation and experimentation their focus and the Big Dada imprint has been no different. Perhaps more earthy and urban than its elder sibling, the label still tries to find artists who want to push boundaries and warp the norm such as Diplo with his gorgeously twisted hiphop excursions. An admirable stance to take in times of identikit acts whose marketing takes precedence over their music, but an ethos that this release falls some way short of meeting.

Wayne Bennett, the production brain behind Lotek Hifi, certainly seems to have gained a good reputation in the right circles, counting the likes of Roots Manuva among his backers, but Move Your Thing is a simple, formulaic ragga track that lacks both an element of surprise and a suitable hook to reel ears in for repeat listens. The deep bass rhythms may hold a certain liver-quivering property on the dancefloor to cause the odd shaken booty but in any other setting the four mixes offered here will do little to get any rumps bumping.

Salvation comes in the form of the absolutely sublime, Sticks And Stones Dub which echoes, ebbs and flows in all the right places with brass blasts, vocal snatches and a smoke-heavy bassline creating a pleasing departure from the main feature.

Tweet Comments