After blowing the drum ‘n’ bass world away with “Take Me Away,” Chase & Status deliver a debut album with plenty of musical twists and turns.
As anyone with a decent viewpoint of the world will understand, life is made up of positives and negatives. When the positives outweigh the negatives, then you’re obviously onto a winner. And so it is with Chase & Status’ debut album. There are three negatives here: 1. The grammatical error of the title (I’m sure it’s not deliberate); 2. The really rather odd intro track “Can’t Get Enough,” which sounds half finished; and 3. That there isn’t an extra CD because everything else about this album is pretty fantastic. With some choice hook-ups including tracks with East London heroes Plan B and Kano, the dubstep smasher “Eastern Jam,” that’s been the talk of clubland, and the absolutely stunning “Streetlife” featuring vocalist Takura, there’s a mixture of tempos and vibes. And, rather than feeling disjointed or out of place, it’s precisely what I would expect from a Chase & Status album and goes to prove that these boys really can produce more than alot (sorry).
Jeryl Wilton
File under: DJ Krust, Shy FX, Roni Size