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7 out of 10
The Essex duo of beardy performance poet Scroobius Pip and DJ/producer Dan le Sac, who have been collaborating since 2006 when le Sac remixed Pip's solo collection 'No Commercial Breaks', struck gold with 'Thou Shalt Always Kill', their 2007 alt-hop single that trashed pop culture and pop snobbery in equal measure. But it undoubtedly became a bit of an albatross and while there's nothing as funny on second LP 'The Logic Of Chance', to call the pair one trick ponies or a novelty would be wrong. On 'The Logic Of Chance' the beats are bold and Pip "fucks with words and their arrangements" with some skill.
After the angsty opener 'Sick Tonight', with its multiple scatty beats and '8 Mile' style pre-gig unease ("I feel sick tonight... but I got to overcome it and keep spitting right"), 'Five Minutes' is more subdued, with spacey Warp-style big beats and a more sombre Scroobius. Mostly, though, the sound if upbeat or up for a scrap. The blaring bleeps on 'Great Britain' almost drown out Pip's wordplay, which bring new angles to the familiar topics of youth and knife crime. On 'Get Better' he stands up for the kids through the medium of Anglicised filter disco and a hope-filled post-Obama manifesto.
Fittingly, 'The Beat' is the cue for le Sac's production to take centre stage (as Scroob says, dance music is "all about your feet"). 'The Beat' takes the old school electro hip-hop of the likes of occasional NWA man Arabian Prince, adding some D&B womp and glaring rave sounds. The bold and brassy production on 'Last Train Home' and 'Snob' nods towards some more old school pioneers, the Beastie Boys, with its snappy beats, siren samples and neat parody of Amy Winehouse's 'Rehab'. The former also features some of the record's funniest lines, such as Pip telling us that "since 9/11 this beard doesn't travel well".
The soppy 'Cowboi' is an odd closer. The 10 riotous (and occasionally righteous) polemics that preceded it might annoy some, but they sound more alive and show off le Sac's talents and Pip's original voice to much greater effect.
Listen: www.myspace.com/lesacvspip
Tracklist:
1. Sick Tonight
2. Five Minutes
3. Cauliflower
4. Great Britain
5. Get Better
6. Inert Explosions
7. Stake A Claim
8. The Beat
9. Last Train Home
10. Snob
11. Cowboi
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