The tracklisting says otherwise, but let’s make this clear that this is not a mix CD vanity project. Post FABRICLIVE and Back to Mine, world-touring award winner Krafty Kuts (who let’s face it, is worth a bit of me-me-me on a mix more than most) has a clear out in his loft of unreleased breaks edits – or should that be, brings to the fore a platoon of sure-shot secret weapons – to create a two-disc Bobby Dazzler.
Starting in fast and funky form, DJ Dan’s N20 is a great launchpad, with shiny disco-electro from I Don’t Care immediately buffered into next week by Adam K & Jelo’s The Good The Bad The Ugly, and within the opening half a dozen tracks, KK has proved that no two re-rubs are and will ever be the same. Regularly cutting up on the ones and twos as well, Kuts visits other people’s mixes on top, buffing up and sending wobbling Lee Mortimer’s revamp of Foamo’s Rockerman, getting further under the bonnet of Loops of Fury and Funk Republic via Calverton and not forgetting electro bodypops for Fort Knox 5/Smalltown Romeo.
Basslines, permanently set to squiggle, spit and slurp, chin Stupid Fresh’s Get The Fuck Up and Keith Mac’s Feelin The Luv with a full set of knuckles. KK laces a triffic mix full of energy and tangy force, and no little entertainment as well: it takes 12 tracks – Miles Dyson’s mix of Jude Sebastian’s Rubberman - for a dedicated breakdown and pause for breath to make an appearance. One track maybe taking the re-rub remit too far is his mix of Adamo & Healey’s Ghetto Blaster; a bit of a cheap shot, tacking on a breaks rhythm underneath the rocket launcher synths.
But even if you’re unsure as to how much tinkering a re-rub constitutes – has KK got his full toolkit out, or has he just applied some creative editing here and snipped a bit off there? – the selection is a good one to get perspiration jacked up to the ceiling. More rapid fire with his blends and mixes on the Against the Grain Classics disc, as well as creating two-trackers while momentum is strong and upping the hip-hop swagger, the one variable that remains the same is the heat rising from the decks stays stifling.
Starting off a little more reserved, skulking and working the dancefloor out with trappy b-boy rhymes before landing the big blows, the electro persuasion gets upped tenfold on the Stanton Warriors’ mix of Deekline & Solo’s Handz Up. D&W’s mix of the Freestylers’ Boom Blast has no room for fun-seekers, and despite the headlining inclusion of Push Up, the chaotic amusement of disc one is most definitely replaced by eyes firmly focussed on skidding through and catching clubbers in its slipstream. Spikiness and ragga bounce rounding the set out, Ed Solo’s damaging Sludge takes on dubstep and inevitably the Tim Deluxe hook-up Bass Phenomenon comes along to fuck over the dials.
A set of dynamic breaks from the ATG canon, managing to find room to cheekily slip in Ed Solo/Skool of Thought’s crossover-ready We Play the Music (which actually leads KK into knocking some of the stuffing out of the mix as it concludes), brought back by the Freestylers-Pendulum rock-off Painkiller.
Tracklisting:
CD1 – KRAFTY KUTS RE-RUBS
1. Krafty Kuts – Intro
2. Twocker - Stitch (Basskleph Mix) - Krafty Kuts Re-Rub
3. DJ Dan - N20 - Krafty Kuts Re-Rub
4. Mickey Slim & Marc Brown - You Know What's Up - Krafty Kuts Re-Rub
5. Hot Mouth - I Don't Care - Krafty Kuts Re-Rub
6. Adam K & Jelo - The Good, The Bad & The Funky - Krafty Kuts Re-Rub
7. Marc Adamo & Tim Healey - Ghetto Blaster - Krafty Kuts Re-Rub
8. Foamo - Rockerman (Lee Mortimer Mix) - Krafty Kuts Re-Rub
9. Loops Of Fury - Flick A Switch (DJ Dan Mix) - Krafty Kuts Re-Rub
10. Funk Republic - Oh (Calvertron Mix) - Krafty Kuts Re-Rub
11. Mickey Slim - Hit The Club (Stupid Fresh Mix) - Krafty Kuts Re-Rub
12. Jude Sebastian - Rubberman (Miles Dyson Mix) Krafty Kuts Re-Rub
13. Hatiras & MC Flipside - Get Blahsted - Krafty Kuts Re-Rub
14. Black Noise - Check The Blast - Krafty Kuts Re-Rub
15. Stupid Fresh Feat Stellar MC - Get The Fuck Up - Krafty Kuts Re-Rub
16. Fort Knox Five - The Party Pushers (Smalltown Romeo Mix) - Krafty Kuts Re-Rub
17. Lazy Jay - Tomahawk - Krafty Kuts Re-Rub
18. Keith Mac - Feelin The Luv (Twocker Mix) - Krafty Kuts Re-Rub
19. Draax & Seavers - Rude Boys - Krafty Kuts Re-Rub
CD2 – BONUS DISC: AGAINST THE GRAIN CLASSICS
1. Freestylers ‘Slammer’
2. Deekline & Wizard feat. Freq Nasty & DJ Assault ‘Keep It Pushing’
3. Freestylers ‘Push Up’ Plump DJs Remix
4. Krafty Kuts & DJ Icey ‘Through The Door’
5. Deekline, Wizard & Ed Solo feat. DJ Assault ‘One In The Front’
6. Deekline & Ed Solo ‘Handz Up’ Stanton Warriors Remix
7. Freestylers ‘Boom Blast’ Deekline & Wizard Remix
8. Krafty Kuts ‘Basketball Jam’
9. Freestylers ‘Push Up’
10. Deekline & Wizard ‘Bounce & Rebound’ Acapella
11. Krafty Kuts v Freestylers feat Dynamite MC ‘Dynamite Love’
12. Freestylers ‘In Love With You’
13. Krafty Kuts ‘Tell Me How You Feel’ Rogue Element Remix
14. Ed Solo & Skool Of Thought feat. Darrison ‘Love Your Life’
15. Krafty Kuts ‘The Funk’ Acapella
16. Ed Solo ‘Sludge’
17. Krafty Kuts & Tim Deluxe ‘Bass Phenomenon’ Dubstep mix
18. Deekline & Wizard ‘Back Up’ Krafty Kuts Remix
19. Splitloop ‘Tweaked Out’
20. Krafty Kuts feat Dynamite MC ‘There They Go’ Acapella
21. Krafty Kuts & Tim Deluxe ‘Bass Phenomenon’
22. Splitloop ‘Soul Roll’
23. Ed Solo & Skool Of Thought ‘When I Was A Yout’
24. Ed Solo & Skool Of Thought feat. Darrison ‘We Play The Music’
25. Freestylers ‘Pocket Full Of Sadness’
26. Krafty Kuts feat. Dynamite MC ‘We Do This’ Acapella
27. Freestylers v Pendulum feat SirReal ‘Painkiller’
28. Ed Solo, Skool Of Thought & Beardyman ‘Disclaimer’