Review: After last year's On My Mind release with Flava D, Royal T is back on Butterz with another sure shot of grimey pressure. As well as the instrumental beats, "Shotta" comes in two versions voiced by P Money and Footsie respectively with very different results. P Money brings a fierce and fiery delivery that pushes the already-hype track into dangerous levels of liveliness, while Footsie takes a more restrained approach with no less presence in his flow. Aside from those show-stealers, Royal T gets to stretch his legs on playful garage house interlude "Limbo" and the adventurous climes of "Glacier" with its melting pot of influences feeding into a truly diverse jam.
Review: Royal T and Flava D step out with their first collaborative outing. An outing that's been so fruitful, it's spawned three different versions. Rub one is all about the classic 4/4 UKG vibes as the beats slap and tickle beneath a series of jazzy organ hits. The much darker, ruder rub two flexes back to the turn of the century when grime, breaks and garage were enjoying one of the finest three-ways UK music has ever experienced. Finally we hit rub three, all foaty, skippy and dreamy, it's a two-step journey into the most luxuriant of dancefloor pastures. What a collaboration, we've got Royal T and Flava D on our minds in a major way!
Review: A massive eight-track release on No Hats No Hoods. "1 Up" is an 8-bit bleepy computer game-referencing slab of the murkiest business imaginable, which gets remixed by Martin Kemp into a quirky little ditty, with pared down beats n bass, plenty of percussion, and Rocks, who roughs things up good and proper with choppy beats and dramatic synth sweeps. Original piece "Mega" is a heavy, synth-laden piece with ominous overtones, whilst J Beatz's interpretation brings out the cinematic drama. "Beatfighter" sees Royal T return to the 8-bit bleeps, which Bok Bok accentuates with some grouchy bass in his remix. Final cut "Gargoyle" is a low-slung riddim with buckets of character, and Silencer's remix is a killer.
